----- Original Message -----
From: Ruth Sullivan <godwit at worldnet.att.net>
To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Friday, August 10, 2001 10:42 PM
Subject: Manx Shearwater at Ocean Shores


> Hello Tweets,
>
> Today Rolan Nelson, and my mother and I birded the Ocean Shores area,
> including visiting Brady Loop Rd. to and from destinations, as we normally
> do. The main highlight of the day was a MANX SHEARWATER observed from the
> base of the Ocean Shores Jetty from 9:45am-10am, as we observed the bird
> foraging 2-3 yards offshore with a spotting scope and binoculars. The bird
> was first noted flying loosely with a small feeding seabird flock, north
of
> the jetty, then it would occasionally land on the water, then fly again
very
> close to the water surface allowing great views of it's black and white
> plumage, being solid black above, and white below, with the white on the
> throat extending over to the ear, and white underwing linings, and being
> clearly smaller and more delicate than the few nearby Sooty Shearwaters,
as
> the contrast is very diagnostic and striking with appropriate lighting
> conditions. This sighting was our personal best observation of this
species,
> as all the other sighting have also come from this exact location in past
> years from July-September, but were much briefer. Hopefully more sightings
> will occur in the near future. Our biggest disappoinment for the day was
> extremely low numbers of shorebirds at ALL locations.
>
> Weather conditions throughout the entire day at Ocean Shores were mostly
> cloudy with ocassional sunbreaks, with improving conditions by late
> afternoon, but the onshore flow quickly settled back in after 4pm, turning
> mostly cloudy skies, but areas east of Aberdeen remained clear and sunny
on
> our way home, but were cloudy in the morning. Winds remained very light
> throughout the day, but increased on our way home at inland locations.
>
> We started out at Mud Bay/Madrona Beach Rd. at 6:30am(incoming tide),
where
> a flock of 9 Bonaparte's Gulls, and 27 Greater Yellowlegs were noted,
before
> we headed west to Brady Loop Rd. West of McCleary low clouds began to
> greatly increase all the way to Ocean Shores, but a quick stop at Brady
Loop
> Rd. at 7:15am produced the adult RED-SHOULDERED HAWK that was briefly
seen,
> before it flew west along a densely alder-lined creek.Other notable
species
> at Brady Loop Rd. during our morning visit included:
>
> 1 female Green-winged Teal
> 2 female Cinnamon Teal
> 5 Least Sandpipers
> 3 Long-billed Dowitchers
>
> At 8:30am we arrived at the Hoquim STP, where a extensive check of the
main
> sewage pond produced a few notable waterfowl species, along with 2
imamture
> Spotted Sandpipers, including:
>
> 5 female Green-winged Teal
> 1 female Northern Pintail
> 2(1 eclipse male,1 female)Northern Shovelers
> 2 female Blue-winged Teal
> 6 female Cinnamon Teal
> 1 pair of Ring-necked Ducks
> 2 male Greater Scaup
> 1 female BUFFLEHEAD
> 1 female COMMON GOLDENEYE
>
> Next, at Cyber Lake, south of Ocean City State Park(S.P.) along S.R.115 we
> all noted the remaining flock of 50 GREATER YELLOWLEGS that also hosted 2
> Long-billed Dowitchers, as they all roosted on the wooden bridge over the
> lake,visible from the main road, but accessed by a small woodland trail.
>
> At 9:15am we checked the Ocean Shores Golf Course, where a quick check of
a
> recent good shorebird pond, produced 3 Long-billed Dowitchers, but should
be
> checked more regularly throughout the fall. Next, we arrived at the Ocean
> Shores Jetty at 9:40am, where our first quality bird almost upon arrival
was
> the Manx Shearwater, as we birded until 11:15am with a fairly extensive
walk
> to the end of the jetty and back with the following highlights:
>
> 3 Red-throated Loons
> 5 Pacific Loons
> 12 Sooty Shearwaters(very low numbers)
> 3 Brandt's Cormorants
> 1 Brown Pelican
> 22 White-winged Scoter(including one male that was injured on the beach at
> the base of the jetty)
> 35 Surf Scoters
> 4 Wandering Tattlers
> 4 Ruddy Turnstones
> 7 Black Turnstones
> 1 immature Spotted Sandpiper
> 62 Surfbirds(47 nonbreeding birds, 15 alternate breeding plumaged birds)
> 11 sanderlings
> 2 BAIRD'S SANDPIPERS(observed at the base of the jetty along the sandy
> shoreline, then later on the upper beach tidal line, with the Sanderlings)
> 230 Heermann's Gulls(increasing numbers)
> 1 Black-legged Kittiwake
> 2 Marbled Murrelets
>
> At 11:30am we checked the Ocean Shores STP, and the western edge of the
> Ocean Shores Game Range(area immediately behind the sewage ponds), where
the
> only highlights consisted of:
>
> 2 female RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS
> 1 adult Peregrine Falcon(Tundra race)
> 1 Black-legged Kittiwake
>
> We drove north of Ocean Shores for a few hours to the towns of Ocean City
> and Copalis Beach along S.R.109, after 12pm(incoming tide), where our
first
> stop was made at the Ocean City beach access, where we took a short walk
> north of the parking area along the beach, where 2 Whimbrel, and 160
> Sanderlings were noted. Later, we arrived at Griffiths Priday S.P. at
> Copalis Beach at 2pm, where good numbers of roosting gulls, and terns,
with
> minor shorebird flocks were noted along the immediate shoreline, as we
> crossed the canal to approach them for closer observations from the "dead
> end", just west of the restrooms, where highlights included:
>
> 1 juvenal Bonaparte's Gull
> 330 Heermann's Gulls
> 210 California Gulls
> 1 Western Gull
> 10 Black-leeged Kittiwakes
> 7 COMMON TERNS
> 125 Sanderlings
> 1 BAIRD'S SANDPIPER
>
> We arrived back at Ocean Shores were our main stop was made and spent at
the
> Ocean Shores Game Range at 3pm, where we made a fairly extensive walk of
the
> sandy spit at incoming tide, then back, but shorebird numbers were
extremely
> low at this location, as they wwere at other sites, as we previously
> mentioned, with the last main flock or "wave" noted on the 9th according
to
> Scott Rea, who we managed to meet again upon our arrival to the game range
> earlier during the day. We birded until 4:45pm at the game range in search
> of any increased shorebird movements, but NO such luck, with only small
> flocks present during our visit, with a few highlights that included:
>
> 5 Red-throated Loons
> 4 Pacific Loons
> 3 Common Loons(1 breeding plumaged bird, 2 in nonbreeding plumage)
> 18 Brown Pelicans
> 1 juvenal Peregrine Falcon(Peale's or Pacific Race)
> 43 Black-bellied Plovers
> 64 Semipalmated Polvers
> 2 SNOWY PLOVERS(1 adult female, and 1 immature bird)
> 3 Whimbrel
> 1 MARBLED GODWIT
> 2 Surfbirds
> 1 Sanderling
110 Western Sandpipers
68 Least Sandpipers
> 13 Short-billed Dowitchers

At 5pm we walked to the Damon Point pond, where highlights included:

28 Brown Pelicans
25 Semipalmated Plovers
21 Western Sandpipers
36 Least Sandpipers
2 Horned Larks

On our way home we stopped along Brady Loop Rd., but we did not relocate the
adult Red-shouldered Hawk or any other highlights, but we observed our only
single Turkey Vulture of the day along Hwy.12 at Montesano, then our last
bird of the day, being a single COMMON NIGHTHAWK flying along I-5 at MP 118,
just south of Steilacoom in Pierce County.


Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
GODWIT at worldnet.att.net