Forwarded for a friend who is not subscribed to Tweeters. The
location Joel was birding, Oyster Bay, is pretty much the same as
what I call Kennedy Creek Estuary.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I thought I'd pass this Oyster Bay estuary list from the
return leg of our weekend trip to Whidbey Island, in case
you thought the Pacific Golden-Plover might be worth
mentioning on Tweeters (I'm not subscribed to that list).
I'm not 100% certain about the specific ID on this bird, but
wing-tip projection looked very similar to the one other Pacific
Golden-Plover I've seen. It was fun to see all those
Black-bellied Plovers in various states of plumage.

>
> This report was mailed for Joel Geier by http://birdnotes.net
>
> Date: August 5, 2001
> Location: Oyster Bay, Mason County, Washington
>
> Temperature: 65 degrees fahrenheit
> Wind direction: NW
> Prevailing wind speed: 12-19 km/h
> Percentage of sky covered by clouds: 100%
> Precipitation: showers/intermittent rain
>
> Around 5:30-6 PM, rising tide which obliterated mudflats during the
> time we were there. Scanned mudflats from north shore of estuary
> using scope. Light not the greatest, and hence the lack of definite
> ID on most peeps. Figures given are estimates.
>
> Birds seen (in taxonomic order):
>
> Great Blue Heron 2
> Mallard 30
> Black-bellied Plover 25 [1]
> Pacific Golden-Plover 1 [2]
> Killdeer 15 [3]
> Greater Yellowlegs 2
> Western Sandpiper 30 [4]
> Least Sandpiper 90 [5]
> Ring-billed Gull 150 [6]
> California Gull 10
> Glaucous-winged Gull 5
> Unidentified gull 50
> Caspian Tern 2
> Northwestern Crow 4
> Common Raven 1
> Barn Swallow 4
>
> Footnotes:
>
> [1] About 40% in breeding plumage or molting, rest winter plumage
> or
> immatures.
> [2] Solitary, near killdeer flock in higher part of estuary (not
> with Black-bellied Plovers). Bird was molting from breeding
> plumage, still about 70% breeding plumage but with some light
> patches on belly. Showing dark "ear-patch". ID as generic
> Golden-Plover based on build, bill size relative to head, and
> lack of white rump when bird stretched wings to show barred
> tail. Specific ID as Pacific Golden-Plover based on relatively
> slight wingtip projection past tail. Viewed with 30X scope at
> about 150-200 yds, for about 5 minutes, with bird in resting,
> feeding & preening postures; had Prater, Marchant & Hayman
> shorebirds plates at hand for comparison. Bird did not fly.
> [3] Single flock
> [4] Rough estimate on proportions of Least vs. Westerns; most too
> far off to see well but impression was that most were Leasts.
> No chance to check for less common calidrids, due to light
> conditions and distance, but nothing larger than a Western
> Sandpiper seemed to be present (nothing with shape suggesting
> Baird's, Pectoral, etc.)
> [5] Rough estimate; see note for Western Sandpiper.
> [6] Most resting on grassy islands in estuary.
>
> Total number of species seen: 16

--
Joel Geier
jgeier at attglobal.net

------- End of forwarded message -------


*****************************
Douglas Canning
Olympia, Washington
dcanning at nisquallyestuary.org
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