Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I birded the general Ocean Shores area, along with a few
additional stops made to our destination including Mud Bay(Eld Inlet), Brady
Loop Rd., and the Hoquim STP. Weather condition were favorable,desite rather
steady persistant wind throughout the entire day at Ocean Shores. Our main
highlight of the day was a flock consisting of both species of juvenile
golden plovers containing 20 individual birds at the base of Damon Point at
3:30pm, being 17 PACIFIC GOLDEN PLOVERS, and 3 AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVERS,
which were quite approachable, allowing great photographes, as ALL the birds
roosted on a exposed sandbar, just east of the Damon Point parking lot,
which were first noted by George Gerdts previously in the day. The birds
remained at this location throughout our entire time at Damon Point, as
presumably windy conditions kept the birds grounded, which were also our
only golden plovers of the day, making it that much more special. In general
shorebird numbers were very low, being the time of year, but also fairly
high tide levels presumably having most shorebirds at other locations.

We started our day at 8am along Madrona Beach Rd., west of Olymipia at the
south end of Eld Inlet where 88 Greater Yellowlegs were noted at two
locations, before continuing west towards Brady Loop Rd. A list of the
notable species follows at listed locations and times:

Brady Loop Rd. 10:30am

17 Am.Pipits

Hoquim STP/Bowerman Basin 11:45am-12:20pm(incoming tide)

22 Brown Pelicans
67 Greater White-fronted Geese
1 SNOW GOOSE(photographed)
14 "Cackling" Canada Geese(neckband 16)
2 "Dusky" Canada Geese
1 "Aleutian" Canada Goose
18 Green-winged Teal
8 Northern Pintail
24 Northern Shovelers
12 Gadwall
1 Am.Wigeon
1 female Canvasback
11 Ring-necked Ducks
54 Greater Scaup
22 Lesser Scaup
1 Common Goldeneye
13 Ruddy Ducks
12 Semipalmated Plovers
8 Heermann's Gulls
87 Mew Gulls
14 California Gulls
43 Ring-billed Gulls
65 Am.Pipits
1 WESTERN KINGBIRD(observed foraging in 3 Red Alder trees at the west end of
the Hoquim STP,bordering the Hoquim Airfield)

Ocean Shores Golf Course 12:43pm

15 Greater White-fronted Geese(photographed)
3 "Cackling" Canada Geese

Ocean Shores Game Range(accessed from Tonquin Ave.) 1pm-1:40pm

1 Semipalmated Plover
3 Least Sandpipers
1 Pectoral Sandpiper
1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet
18 Am.Pipits
24 Yellow-rumped Warblers
1 Common Yellowthroat
4 Fox Sparrows
5 Golden-crowned Sparrows
1 Western Meadowlark

Ocean Shores Game Range(accessed from Marine View Drive) 1:50pm-2:40pm

14 Brown Pelicans
13 Black Scoters
54 Surf Scoters
1 female Hooded Merganser
1 Merlin
12 Heermann's Gulls
32 Am.Pipits

Damon Point 3:20pm-4:18pm(outgoing tide)

7 Common Loons
17 Horned Grebes
54 Brown Pelicans
1 SNOW GOOSE(observed flying from the Damon Point pond west towards the
O.S.Game Range)
5 Greater Scaups
17 PACIFIC GOLDEN PLOVERS
3 AM.GOLDEN PLOVERS
3 Western Sandpipers
23 Am.Pipits

Ocean Shores STP 4:30pm-4:50pm

6 Pacific Loons
4 Red-throated Loons
16 Western Grebes
16 Brown Pelicans
130+ Sooty Shearwaters(observed flying within the Grays Harbor channel)
5 Greater White-fronted Geese(photographed)
4 "Cackling"Canada Geese
38 Northern Shovelers
1 Pectoral Sandpiper
42 Heermann's Gulls
24 Am.Pipits

Ocean Shores Jetty 5pm-5:50pm

67+ Pacific Loons
4 Red-thraoted Loons
12 Western Grebes
240+ Sooty Shearwaters
2 SHORT-TAILED SHEARWATERS(observed both together loosely foraging with
nearby larger, and paler Sooty Shearwaters for excellent comparison, and
good lighting as ALL the sheawaters observed to be mostly foraging close to
shore within a 25 minute period)
62 Brown Pelicans
24 Brandt's Cormorants
455+ Surf Scoters(two large rafts containing 312 birds in addition to
offshore flying birds)
32 White-winged Scoters
2 Western Sandpipers
2 Black Turnstones
1 dark-morph POMARINE JAEGER
5 Black-legged Kittiwakes
3 Marbled Murrelets

Driftwood Street-Marine View Drive beach access 6pm

7,000+ Sanderlings

Gray Gables along S.R.109 between MP 7 and 8 6:45pm

16 Greater White-fronted Geese
9 "Cackling"Canada Geese


Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
GODWIT at worldnet.att.net