Subject: Where are the shorebirds?
Date: Apr 27 11:01:07 2001
From: Dianna Moore - dlmoor2 at coastaccess.com


As a resident of Ocean Shores for the past 2+ years, I have noticed the best
gatherings for shorebirds of all kinds are to be found on the inner harbor
side of the peninsula, especially on the outgoing tide...say 1/2 hr to 2 hrs
AFTER high tide. It is at this time that the latest "spread" of food is
available, having been drawn by the just-passed high tide. But, yesterday
afternoon at about 4:30pm, as I stood on Bob Morse's lot (thank you again,
Bob) observing the North Bay sandbars just north of Bill's Spit, I was
pleased to see well over 200 Whimbrel crowding the small space. They were
sharing the space with various gulls, Caspian Tern, and shorebirds too small
for me to identify at that distance. In a tree behind me was an immature
(Basic I) Bald Eagle, and circling just to the north was a juvenile Bald
Eagle.

I noticed the Saturday fieldtrip to Ocean Shores for this year's Shorebird
Festival ends at 6pm, while high tide at Pt. Brown is at 6:03pm, so there
should be lots to see. For those of you planning on doing your own tour and
stopping at Damon Point, the road is closed just east of the parking lot due
to a washout, so be prepared to walk; also, parking places are few in the
lot itself, but there is plenty of room along Marine View Dr., just west of
the turnoff to Damon Point.

Good birding.
Dianna Moore
Ocean Shores, Wa.
dlmoor2 at coastaccess.com
----- Original Message -----
From: Bruce Fischer <stump at techline.com>
To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>; <dplummer at dougplummer.com>
Sent: Friday, April 27, 2001 9:06 AM
Subject: RE: Where are the shorebirds?


They seem to be at Bottle Beach. I saw thousands of them yesterday and have
heard similar reports from earlier this week.

As far as I know the 300 we saw on Wednesday at Bowerman Basin were the
largest flock of Westerns seen so far this spring. So hopefully, it's the
beginning.

Bruce Fischer
Aberdeen, WA
stump at techline.com

Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2001 17:08:10 -0700
From: Doug Plummer <dplummer at dougplummer.com>
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: Where are the shorebirds?
Message-ID: <5.0.2.1.2.20010426170708.00aaab00 at mx.serv.net>

I birded Bowerman Basin and Ocean Shores on 4/25, and was startled by the
absence of shorebirds at Bowerman. There was a maximum of, maybe, 300-400
Westerns and a handful of SB Dowitchers and a stray Semipal Plover here and
there. What gives? Is migration late this year, or is there another area of
Grays Harbor that is the preferred high hide roost now? I recall this week
20 years ago when bird numbers were 3 orders of magnitude greater at
Bowerman.

Of note were great movements of Brant. Many flocks of 100-300 birds moving
north seen throughout the day. In one flock, that flew over the pond at
Paulson Road, were two Snow Geese.

Doug Plummer
Seattle, WA
mailto:dplummer at dougplummer.com