Subject: Ocean Shores Highlights (long)
Date: Aug 9 17:39:17 2001
From: Birdking88 at aol.com - Birdking88 at aol.com


Hello Tweets,
Birded mainly the Ocean Shores area yesterday with Irene Potter and Carol
Schulz. We were surprised to see 21 species of shorebirds during the whole
day, among 102 species total. Here is how the day went...

Mud Bay (west of Olympia, Thurston Co)
6 Greater Yellowlegs
81 Bonaparte's Gulls
25 Ring-billed Gulls
3 California Gulls

Brady Loup Road (Gray's Harbor Co)
Very foggy when we first arrived, but the fog was quickly dissipating and
almost gone as we left. The water is down a bit at the wetland, and much of
the mud around the small ponds is covered by grass, etc. When we first
arrived we noticed our first mixed migrant passerine flock of the year.
2 juvenile Pied-billed Grebe
1 juvenile American Coot
3 Green Herons
1 RED-SHOULDERED HAWK (heard only in the same draw where the bird wintered)
2 Greater Yellowlegs
8 Long-billed Dowitchers
8 Least Sandpipers
4 Western Sandpipers
1 female Yellow Warbler
2 BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLERS
3 Wilson's Warblers
5 Warbling Vireos
2 Orange-crowned Warblers
5 Common Yellowthroats
3 Willow Flycatchers

Hoquiam STP (Gray's Harbor Co)
1 female BUFFLEHEAD
1 female COMMON GOLDENEYE
2 GREATER SCAUP
3 RING-NECKED DUCKS
1 eclipse male AMERICAN WIGEON
4 female NORTHERN PINTAIL
5 Gadwall

Ocean Shores (Pt. Brown) Jetty (Gray's Harbor Co)
Very foggy here during our entire 1.5 hour+ visit, visibility being less than
70ft out on the jetty. I walked out on the jetty to the very tip, where all
the seabirds and most of the shorebirds were viewed.
27 Surfbirds
1 WANDERING TATTLER
4 Ruddy Turnstones
9 Black Turnstones
3 Sanderlings
3 RED-NECKED PHALAROPES
1 RED PHALAROPE
7 COMMON TERNS
1 ARCTIC TERN (flying with small flock of Common Terns, this [like the Red
Phalarope] was my first sighting from land)
5 Brown Pelicans
4 Sooty Shearwaters

Ocean Shores Game Range (Gray's Harbor Co)
3 Red-throated Loons
5 Greater Yellowlegs
1 LESSER YELLOWLEGS
15 Semipalmated Plovers
50 Western Sandpipers
8 Least Sandpipers

Bill's Spit (Gray's Harbor Co)
Few shorebirds overall, but large numbers of gulls were interesting.
70 Western Sandpipers
350-400 gulls; Glaucous-winged, Ring-billed, Western, and California (in
order of abundance)

Ocean Shores Game Range
Revisited this spot and covered it more extensively at perfect tide levels
this time. We met and birded with Scott Rea much of the time.
~600 Western Sandpipers (largest numbers I've seen so far this year)
~100 Least Sandpipers
1 BAIRD'S SANDPIPER (We picked this bird out of a flying peep flock my its
call, and then it separated itself from most of the group and landed nearby).
1000+ Black-bellied Plovers (flocks of hundreds flew by, and a couple hundred
were landed in a mixed flock of dowitchers, gulls, etc.)
~250 Short-billed Dowitchers
1+ Long-billed Dowitcher
9 RED KNOTS (most molting into basic plumage)
2 Lesser Yellowlegs
5 Greater Yellowlegs
1 Northern Harrier
10 Semipalmated Plovers
4 SNOWY PLOVERS (1 female with 3 ~1-day old chicks, presumably this bird's
second brood of the year)

That's about all, good luck and good birding!

Charlie Wright, 12
Birdking88 at aol.com
Sumner, WA