Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I birded the general Ocean Shores region, including a
visit to and from our destination along Brady Loop Rd., west of Elma.
Weather conditions were quite favorable throughout the day, being mostly
cloudy to partly sunny skies, but occasional drizzle at times along the
immediate coast, and minor wind. We encountered several highlights during
the day, despite relatively low numbers of shorebirds compared to our last
visit to Ocean Shores on the 15th of July. We extensively searched through
any "peep" flocks that were available in search of any Semipalmated
Sandpipers, but NO LUCK, with our best viewable flock of "peeps" at the
Damon Point "pond" at 3pm, just after high tide. Here, we noted a flock of
220 Western Sandpipers(being all mostly in full breeding plumage, with a few
in partial molt), and 27 Least Sandpipers(adults), as we searched through
the flock, as the roosted along the shoreline of the pond. As mentioned
before, we noted overall lesser numbers of shorebirds throughout the day
than our previous visit, as birds are moving around the area. Our best
highlight of the day was the MANX SHEARWATER that was observed off the Ocean
Shores Jetty at 11am(incoming tide), as it foraged loosely with a rather
large feeding flock of common seabirds, being southwest of the western tip
of the jetty, including Rhinocerous Auklets, Sooty Shearwaters, and
Heermann's Gulls, in that order of abundance. The bird flew around the
perimeter of the flock in NO specific direction, until it was undetected.
Our second best highlight, being the most unexpected for the specific
location was an immature WHITE-TAILED KITE along Brady Loop Rd. at 8:30am,
then on a return trip at 5pm, as the bird foraged, and roosted in a fallen
tree in the field adjacent to the Brady Loop Rd. wetland located at the
western end of Brady Loop Rd. Our third best highlight for the day was a
juvenal female BAR-TAILED GODWIT, which was noted flying over Bill's Spit at
1:30pm at approaching high tide, but this bird could not be relocated upon
extensive searching, as all shorebirds that were noted before high tide all
left the entire area, as noted on associating mudfalts near the location,
with NO remaining shorebirds observed roosting at Bill's Spit at high tide,
so it is believed there is another roosting location nearby. Other
highlights throughout the day included:

Red-throated Loon
6 at the Ocean Shores Game Range,Grays Harbor Co.(GH)
1 off the O.S.Jetty,GH
1 at Damon Point,GH

Sooty Shearwater
78 off the O.S.Jetty,GH

Brown Pelican
1 off the O.S.Jetty,GH
1 off Damon Point,GH

Northern Pintail
1 at the Hoquim STP,GH
1 flying over Damon Point,GH

Bufflehead
1 female at the Hoquim STP,GH

Peregrine Falcon
1 adult at the Ocean Shores STP,GH

Black-bellied Plover
45 at Bill's Spit,GH

Greater Yellowlegs
24 at the mouth of Perry Creek at Mud Bay,Thurston Co.
54 at Cyber Lake, along S.R.115, just north of Ocean Shores,GH
1 at Bill's Spit,GH

Wandering Tattler
1 at the O.S.Jetty,GH

Whimbrel
17 at Bill's Spit,GH

Ruddy Turnstone
5 at the O.S.Jetty,GH

Black Turnstone
21 at the O.S.Jetty,GH

Surfbird
5 at the O.S.Jetty,GH

Dunlin
1 adult in alternate plumage at the Damon Point"pond",GH

Short-billed Dowitcher
68 at Bill's Spit,GH
6 at the Damon Point"pond",GH

Long-billed Dowitcher
5 at the Damon Point"pond",GH

Parasitic Jaeger
1 dark morph bird off the O.S.Jetty,GH

Black-legged Kittiwake
3 off the O.S.Jetty,GH

Marbled Murrelet
1 off the O.S.Jetty,GH

Rhinocerous Auklet(high count)
610+ off the O.S.Jetty,GH

Horned Lark
1 at Damon Point,GH

Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
GODWIT at worldnet.att.net