Tweeters,

Unless there is a contigent of commuting plovers, observers in Pacific
County tallied ~ 50 Snowy Plovers, 28 at Midway Beach (as reported by
Tweeters), and 20 on Leadbetter Point, as reported below). This seems to be
a very encouraging count...and in midwinter, no less.

Here's a report of our weekend 13-14 January in southwestern Washington:

LEADBETTER POINT
13-14 JANUARY 2001

Ellen and I explored a number of southwestern Washington birding areas this
weekend. The rarityof the trip was, of course, the White Ibis at Raymond.
But, for us, the climax of this long weekend was a superb hike completely
around Leadbetter Point, surely one of the premier natural history
excursions the Pacific Northwest has to offer.

LINCOLN CREEK VALLEY. We explored the Lincoln Creek Valley, noting numerous
gun clubs. It looks like a nice place to explore when hunting season ends.
We were pleased to note 3 White-tailed Kites, however. All were hunting rank
grasslands on south-facing slopes; none were on the valley bottom.

WHITE IBIS AT RAYMOND. A very off-course White Ibis, new for Washington,
reported for the past couple of weeks in the Bay Center and Raymond area,
stayed at its dairy home pasture long enough for us to tick it off on our
state list. This was, in terms of rarities, the highlight of our trip. This
twitching site was also where all the birders were congregating! Once we
left this stake-out, we encountered no birders, revealing this remote corner
of Washington sees relatively little study by birders compared to Puget
Sound and north in Washington.

SALTMARSH ALONG THE EASTSIDE OF LEADBETTER POINT. A modest (2.5') low tide
meant a less-than-usual area of mudflat along the shores of Willapa Bay.
Dunlin by the thousands were the most obvious foraging shorebird, as is
predictable in winter. We had fine scope views of an adult Peregrine (anatum
or tundrius), one the common predators of the swarms of Dunlin which winter
here, Merlin being the other. We were lucky here to also have nice scope
views of a pair of Trumpeter Swans nearshore, then take off, trumpeting
away. An adult Bald Eagle made off with a flailing fish, cackling and
screaming loudly which I interpreted as a rite of courtship feeding antics.

ALDERS AND WAX MYRTLE AT THE NORTH END. Hiking north along the inside of
Willapa Bay, the weather warmed, it became partly sunny, with virtually no
wind. An extraordinary January day was in the offing! The birds responded to
this warmth, too. The abundant Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warblers appeared to
be anxious to forsake their usual winter diet of Wax Myrtle berries, which
hang in clumps to every stem of this beautiful shrub. We saw numerous
warblers sallying short distances above their perches on the naked Red
Alders, flycatching, then drifting down to a perch. Tiny bugs (midges?) were
in evidence, even a few mosquitoes! The neighborhood Sharp-shinned Hawk
seemed clued into the warblers' flycatching; as the hawk was sailing in
circles over the landscape, making occasional rapid dives, presumably to
snatch a warbler. The abrupt dives of this hawk today was reminiscent (if
only at quarter-speed) of a Peregrine's stoop and was a hunting technique I
hadn't witness before by this species. Besides Myrtle Warblers, we noted
many Northern (Red-shafted) Flickers and a number of Varied Thrush
(particularly Wax Myrtle shrubs near Lodgepole Pine clumps, the evergreen
conifers presumably for cover) in this habitat. The nearby Red Alder were
hosting a few Pine Siskin flocks; with a few Purple Finches were mixed in.

THE LONG WALK SOUTH. As we were hiking north to the tip of Leadbetter Point,
the tide was beginning to rise, signal to the hordes of Dunlins to seek
roosting sites. It was evident the ocean side of Leadbetter Point was their
chosen roost, as compact flocks streamed by us around the rounded cape that
is the point, disappearing from view. These flocks pretty much hugged the
shoreline, evidently avoiding an overland route, in this way, not much
different from dippers, which invariably hug water, never shortcutting.
Immediately south of the point on the ocean side, we were astonished to
seeDunlin by the thousands, resting just below the high tide line,
occasionally being flushed by higher waters brought on by rogue waves. What
a marvelous spectacle as tight flocks of 3-5,000 birds wheeled and coursed
over and about the giant Pacific breakers, then settling down once again on
the beach! I believe there were eight or nine different flocks of Dunlin
along the northwest side of Leadbetter Point on this afternoon; we were
looking at somewhere between 35,000 and 50,000 birds! We also counted ~ 750
Sanderling and 350 Western Sandipers. Amazingly, only one Peregrine (an
immature pealei female?) seemed to be along this stretch. There was
certainly food for more raptors! Surprisingly, the sizeable flocks of
Black-bellied Plovers were south on the beach and none were noted flying
around the point, implying an overland flight from the mudflats to their
roosting site.

Just north of the closed area southern boundary (viewable from outside the
numerous signs posting "Closed Area;" by the way, has anyone considered all
these posts provide wonderful raptor hunting perches, making it all-to-easy
for a raptor to snatch Snowy Plovers, the object of protection?) we chanced
on a loose resting flock of Snowy Plovers, 20 in all! Three were banded with
yellow, red and purple rings. In checking the Snowy Plover recovery report
(WDFW. 1993), I found wintering in Washington is not unusual, a peak count
of 28 were noted in 1978. However, this count 22 years later day seems
noteworthy. Does this indicate that Washingtons very limited breeding
population (confined mostly to Leadbetter and Damon Points), is on the
upswing? Maybe a reader of this on Tweeters can offer specifics on how
recovery efforts of Snowy Plover are faring. In the same upland beach zone,
there were scattered Least Sandpipers, perhaps attracted to concentrations
of insects in the washed up kelp.

A half-mile farther south, we ran into another loose (15 or so) resting
flock of small plovers, this time all Semipalmateds. I though it interesting
both species of small plovers was in species-specific flocks. And...here
were the Black-bellied Plovers, several thousand of them! I thought it
worthwhile to carefully scrutinize the upper beach scene here, hoping the
Mountain Plover, noted for several weeks just north of the North Jetty a few
miles to the south, might have relocated to an area with swarms of its
cousins, even if they favor different habitats than the dryland Mountain
Plover. But, we had no such luck. Least Sandpipers were seen, though,
perhaps 35 or so.

This circumambulating of Leadbetter Point took us 7.5 hours, arriving back
at the car at dusk. But, what a wonderful hike and experience it was! We had
virtually the entire place all to ourselves; we encountered beach hikers
only on the return to the NWR trails that head west from the parking area.

Andy Stepniewski
Wapato WA
steppie at nwinfo.net