Hello Tweets,

My mother and I birded the 2nd and 3rd of September in the Tokeland and
Ocean Shores area, as in past weeks, with fairly good weather with only
scattered showers on the 2nd, and partly sunny skies on the 3rd, with
increasing rain on our way home. We encountered 128 species with 28 being
shorebirds. We ran into birders both days, as there was also a Westport
pelagic on the 2nd, and it also being a holiday weekend. Our best highlight
came at the end of our trip along Brady Loop Rd. with the juvenal STILT
SANDPIPER, and our best location!

We started out at Tokeland on the 2nd at 7:30am-9:30am at outgoing tide, a
first for us at Tokeland for shorebirds, where we immediately located the 3
BAR-TAILED GODWITS at the marina, as they fed at the breakwater, and
increased exposed mudflats, allowing photographes of the adult female, which
my mother needed, which it and the paler non-breeding or winter plumaged
female, and the smaller juvenal male, with minor buffy-brown tones on the
breast were noted feeding with the other large shorebirds consisting of:

167 MARBLED GODWITS
12 WILLETS
15 WHIMBRELS

Other shorebirds included: 2 WANDERING TATTLERS, 3 SPOTTED SANDPIPERS, and
122 SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS

Songbird migrants at Tokeland:

2 WILLOW FLYCATCHERS
12 YELLOW WARBLERS
6 WILSON'S WARBLERS

At 11pm we were at the Hoquim STP, at low tide, where conditions improved
greatly than previously, as we scoped the large pond. Good numbers of
waterfowls and gulls covered the pond with the following notable species:

5 CINNAMON TEAL
1 BLUE-WINGED TEAL
14 GREATER SCAUPS
2 LESSER SCAUPS
57 NORTHERN SHOVELERS
34 GREEN-WINGED TEAL
8 NORTHERN PINTAILS
19 GADWALL
1 PEREGRINE FALCON
1 RED-NECKED PHALAROPE
1 pair of PURPLE MARTINS(good record for location)

Next as we headed for Ocean Shores, we stopped by Cyber Lake at North Beach,
where 43 GREATER YELLOWLEGS were gathered near Hwy.115, as a large cloud
burst settled over Ocean Shores at 12pm, until we passed it at the base of
Damon Pt., which is where we spent much of the remainder of the afternoon
combined with the O.S.Game Range. Very few shorebirds were encountered at
Damon Pt. itself, eventhough conditions were fairly favorable, but a few
were noted including:

2 AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVERS
2 LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS
5 BAIRD'S SANDPIPERS
1 COMMON SNIPE

The O.S.Game Range had much increased productivity late in the day, at
outgoing tide, with good numbers of shorebirds encountered at a possible
evening roost. The following list includes all the highlights during a walk
from 7pm-8:30pm:

28 RED-THROATED LOONS
12 PACIFIC LOONS
1 RED-NECKED GREBE
2 WESTERN GREBES
45 SOOTY SHEARWATERS
1 PEREGRINE FALCON
210 BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS
1 AM.GOLDEN PLOVER(probably 1 of 2 seen earlier at Damon Pt.)
34 SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS
2 GREATER YELLOWLEGS
3 WANDERING TATTLERS
135 SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS
1 SPOTTED SANDPIPER
1 MARBLED GODWIT
14 RED KNOTS
3 SANDERLINGS
178 WESTERN SANDPIPERS
112 LEAST SANDPIPERS
3 BAIRD'S SANDPIPERS
2 DUNLIN
1 RED-NECKED PHALAROPE

Today, the 3rd of September, we started out at the Ocean Shores Jetty at
7:30am, with an hour scanning the offshore waters with favorable conditions,
and being two of the only people at the location. Most surprising was the
lack of large numbers of Sooty Shearwaters, as in past weeks nearshore, but
a few were notable for our trip including:

34 PACIFIC LOONS
1 RED-NECKED GREBE(possibly the same bird seen yesterday off the O.S.Game
Range)
12 BRAND'T CORMORANTS
12 AM.WIGEONS
22 NORTHERN PINTAILS
15 GREEN-WINGED TEAL
2 BLACK SCOTERS
148 SURF SCOTERS
7 WANDERING TATTLERS
13 SURFBIRDS
18 BLACK TURNSTONES
1 RUDDY TURNSTONE(as the Common Snipe was our only one of the trip)
1 BAIRD'S SANDPIPER
1 dark morph POMARINE JAEGER
1 MARBLED MURRELET


At 11am we were at the Hoquim STP to check on fall songbird migrants, where
a good fallout along the willow-alder edged roadside leading north to the
airport consisted of:

62 YELLOW WARBLERS
22 WILSON'S WARBLERS
7 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS
1 BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER
1 WILLOW FLYCATCHER
1 LINCOLN'S SPARROW

The RED-NECKED PHALAROPE was again present along with the 4 THAYER'S GULLS,
which seemed very early in the season.

Next, we birded Bottle Beach for 1 hour at incoming tide, with a few
shorebirds, but not huge numbers, as the shoreline was still quite far out
when we left. We did encounter a few highlights including:

1 AM.GOLDEN PLOVER
1 BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER
1 SEMIPALMATED PLOVER
37 SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS
1 SPOTTED SANDPIPER

Heading towards home we checked Brady Loop Rd. from 3:30pm-5pm, where we
located and photographed the juvenal STILT SANDPIPER, first located by Bill
Tweit on the 1st, as it loosely associates itself with other shorebirds
including the following observed species:

2 LESSER YELLOWLEGS
1 GREATER YELLOWLEGS
5 LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS
2 SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS
1 SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER
16 WESTERN SANDPIPERS
57 LEAST SANDPIPERS
12 PECTORAL SANDPIPERS

A BARN OWL was located in the general Brady area, before getting back onto
Hwy.12, and our last species of the trip was 2 WESTERN SCRUB JAYS flying
over Hwy.12 at Elma.


Good Birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
GODWIT at worldnet.att.net