Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I birded Ocean Shores from 10:50am-5:50pm, with our main
highlight of the day being 12 PACIFIC GOLDEN PLOVERS(11 alternate plumaged
adults, 1 juvenal) and 2 AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVERS(both alternate plumaged
adults)at the Ocean Shores Game Range(accessed from behind the Ocean Shores
STP along Ocean Shores Blvd.)during our visit from 1:25pm-3:40pm(outgoing
tide). We were able to observe the golden plovers, as well as photograph
them upon our initial observations, with 6 other birders who later joined us
including Larry McCloskey(a past WA birder who now resides in southern
California, but may move back), and Rob Saecker of Olympia, among other
birders who got long quality views and comparisons of both species
together,(including wing extension, and a few other differences)as they
rested amongst the extensive Salicornia fields bordered by sandy beach beds.
The flock remained until we left, but was later persued by Gary Wiles of
Olympia after 4pm. This flock is presumably the same flock that we located
on the 15th, due to being at the exact same location, but has increased.
After residing with fellow birders, and the golden plovers, Rob Saecker and
my mother and I drove over to the eastern portion of the Ocean Shores Game
Range accessed from Marine View Drive, where we were also met by Scott Rae
who joined us on a walk out onto the game range until 5:15pm, then we showed
him Bill's Spit, but the tide was a little too far out for good
shorebirding. Weather conditions throughout the day at Ocean Shores were
favorable with mostly cloudy skies turning to partly sunny skies by 1pm,
with very light winds, but turning to cloudy skies by 5pm. A list of our day
included notable species as they occured at listed locations:

Cyber Lake 10:50am-11:05am

107 Greater Yellowlegs
2 Long-billed Dowitchers

Ocean Shores Jetty 11:20am-12:35pm

4 Pacific Loons
2 Common Loons
670+ Sooty Shearwaters
23 Brown Pelicans
7 Brandt's Cormorants
2 female Green-winged Teal
2 female Northern Pintails
7 female Northern Shovelers
4 female HARLEQUIN DUCKS
13 Surf Scoters
3 White-winged Scoters
4 Wandering Tattlers
3 Whimbrel
3 Ruddy Turnstones
9 Black Turnstones
11 Surfbirds
1 Least Sandpiper
1 subadult POMARINE JAEGER
3(1 subadult, 2 dark-morph adult)PARASITIC JAEGERS
1 Black-legged Kittiwake(photographed)
2 Marbled Murrelets

Driftwood Street SW(accessed off of Point Brown Ave., north of the Ocean
Shores Jetty) 12:45-1:15pm

2,650 Black-bellied Plovers
2 Ruddy Turnstones
17 Red Knots
3,000+ Sanderlings
242 Short-billed Dowitchers

Ocean Shores Game Range(western portion accessed from behind Ocean Shores
S.T.P.) 1:25pm-3:40pm

32 Brown Pelicans
2 female Red-breasted Mergansers
760+ Black-bellied Plovers
12 PACIFIC GOLDEN PLOVERS
2 AM.GOLDEN PLOVERS
1 Semipalmated Plover
1 Greater Yellowlegs
3 Whimbrel
1 Ruddy Turnstone
11 Red Knots
32 Sanderlings
6 Western Sandpipers
16 Least Sandpipers
168+ Short-billed Dowitchers

Ocean Shores Game Range(eastern portion accessed from Marine View Drive)
3:55pm-5:15pm

7 Red-throated Loons
1 Common Loon
17 Brown Pelicans
3 female Northern Pintails
9 female Northern Shovelers
5 Surf Scoters
1 White-winged Scoter
1 juvenal Peale's Peregrine Falcon
7 Black-bellied Plovers
1 adult female SNOWY PLOVER(only one adult could be located upon extensive
searching today, as it is believed that the female has moved the two
recently fledged young to Damon Point, where more appropriate habitat and
cover exist, due to recent disturbance by humans and predators including
gulls, Caspian Terns, and nearby Peregrine Falcons)
16 Whimbrel
22 Least Sandpipers
1 juvenal BAIRD'S SANDPIPER

Bill's Spit 5:30pm-5:50pm

28 Black-bellied Plovers
17 Short-billed Dowitchers
530+ California Gulls


Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
GODWIT at worldnet.att.net