Hi Tweets,

I wanted to post on my trip to the coast today for those who are
contemplating a trip to the Grays Harbor Shorebird Festival next weekend. My
friend Steve Pink and I left Federal Way about 9:30 this morning, running
into the rain west of Olympia around 10:30 AM. We made our first stop at the
Hoquiam Sewage Ponds around 11:30, in moderate showers, and 10-15 mph winds.
The ponds are one of the best migration spots for swallows that I know of,
which was compensation for the lack of other birds here. Estimated numbers of
birds are:

Greater Scaup - 5
Mallard - 3
Bonaparte's Gull - 6
Mew Gull - 6
Glaucous-wgd and hybrids - 3
Barn Swallow - 50
Cliff Swallow - 200
Violet-green Swallow - 30
Tree Swallow - 3-400
Rough-winged Swallow <5

Also present, along Paulson Rd. were about a half dozen VAUX'S SWIFTS, our
first of the year, and an overflight of about 300 small race CANADA GEESE.
>From there we headed straight into Ocean Shores, not wanting to do the
Bowerman Boardwalk in the rain (plus being short of time).

At the Ocean Shores Golf Course we had nice looks at a couple of shorebird
flocks which included:

30-40 Black-bellied Plovers (most in breeding plumage)
1 Greater Yellowlegs
20-30 Marbled Godwits
5-800 Dunlin (about 1/3 in full breeding plumage)
<20 Western Sandpipers
1-200 Dowitchers (only Short-billed were noted for sure, by call)

Also on the golf course was a flock of about 20 AMERICAN WIGEON and 2
EURASIAN WIGEONS
..
At Bill's Spit, on the inner bay of Ocean Shores, we found a nice flock of
gulls, terns and shorebirds. The wind and rain was continuing unabated, but
this is often one of the best spots, so we walked out to the water's edge and
scoped the birds closely. Numbers here include:

Common Loon - 2 (breeding plumage)
DC Cormorant - 1
N. Pintail - 10
Red-breasted Mergansers - 3 pairs
Whimbrel - 9
Marbled Godwit - 10
Dunlin - 2-300
Dowitcher sp. - 75
Mew Gull - 40
Ring-billed Gull - 30
Herring Gull - 1 (adult, winter plumage)
Western Gull - 30-40
Caspian Tern - 6

Most of the RING-BILLED and WESTERN GULS appear to be in high breeding state,
with bills glowing almost orange-yellow, even in the gray, dreary light. MEW
GULLS also have attained clean, white heads, which changes their look so much
from the smudgy-headed winter birds.

After a short, unproductive stop at the base of Damon Point we headed for the
Pt. Brown jetty. Winds at the jetty were kicking up to 20-30 mph out of the
SW and we were not eager to get out of the car; but with our bins we saw a
large number (for us) of SOORT SHEARWATERS and BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES coming
right into the mouth of the harbor and cavorting wildly in the gusty winds.
We quickly strapped on raincoats and pants and stuffed our pockets with
handkerchiefs and lens tissues to combat the rain. Walking out to scope the
open ocean and the jetty for about 1/2 hour we saw the following birds:

5 Pacific Loons (about 10-20 flby Loon sp. offshore)
50-100 Sooty Shearwaters
3 DC Cormorants
2 Pelagic Cormorants (on jetty tip)
Surf Scoters - 50+ (flying N., past jetty)
Sanderlings - 2
Black Turnstones - 8 (hard to find, let alone count)
Surfbirds - 2
Mew Gull - 5
Western Gulls (& hybrids) - 20
Black-legged Kittiwakes - 25 (all immatures, possibly 2 adults well offshore)
Pigeon Guillemots - 10 (on and around jetty tip)

We also had an overflight of 1-200 geese, which may have been GREATER WF
GEESE (possibly smallish CANADAS), but which were gone to the north before we
could get our rain-soaked bins up. By the time we finished birding the jetty
we were soaked, so we made a cursory stop at the Ocean Shores sewage ponds
which were pretty deserted and headed into town for a late lunch/early
dinner. As the rain never let up we decided just to head home and try Brady
Loop Road as our last stop. Along the loop we found most of the fields still
unplowed, and thus few shorebirds. We did manage to find some birds though,
and added several new species to the list:

Pied-billed Grebe - 1 (giving its jungle-critter call)
Snow Goose - 3 (with Canadas, but left by themselves)
Greater WF Goose - 200 (spooked by an eagle along Foster(?) Rd, otherwise we
would've missed them, as they were in some ponds, way off the road.
Bald Eagle - 1 or 2 immatures
N. Harrier - 1 female
Sora - 1 (heard calling repeatedly, but couldn't be coaxed out)
American Coot - 6
Least Sandpiper - 13
American Pipit - 1 (first of the year)
Lincoln's Sparrow - 1 (among *many* more Savannahs)

And guess what - it was still raining as we finished our day. Only in
Washington can it rain all spring during a drought.... still though - a great
day, with plenty of evidence of migration and a nice variety of birds.

good birding,

Jim Flynn
Federal Way, WA
buteoreg at aol.com