Subject: Loons on the bay.....................
Date: Oct 8 18:32:59 2001
From: Gerald Hamilton - gerald at e-z.net


...................Beautiful Sat. at north end of Long Beach Peninsula,
Wash. Plenty of shorebirds, but nothing unusual---just the regular
winter residents: Black-bellied Plovers, Sanderlings, a few West.
Sandpipers and lots of Dunlin( a good number of juveniles Dunlin seen).
...................6 Common Loons (some still in breeding plumage) were
seen on Willapa Bay. Zillions of Mallards flying by.
...................Lots of Brown Pelicans flying back and forth just off
shore---both on the ocean and over Willapa Bay..
..................Sunday: Rafts of Scoters kept coming and going to a
large group of about 50 a bit off ocean shore. Distance prevented
positive identification, but were totally black in flight, and some
white was visible at times on the facial and neck area, so what evidence
I could see at the distance seem to point to Surf Scoters.
...................Large group of winter plumaged California Gulls with
lots of. juveniles present. A number of darker winged West.Gulls
present. Flushed a Hermit Thrush out of the beach grass.
...................On the way home Sun. eve. at Whitetail Deer Refuge at
Skamakowa, Wash. spotted 70 very noisy Double-crested Cormorants
perched on the branches of 3 Sitka Spruce growing together at the edge
of the Columbia River.
All this to the backdrop of the light of the setting sun over the river.
...................Just a few of the sightings that" made my days".

...................Cheers
Gerald Hamilton
Brush Prairie, Wash.
gerald at e-z.net