Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I birded the general Ocean Shores area, with some
additional checks made at Bowerman Basin and the Hoquim STP to and from
destinations. We encountered relatively good numbers of shorebirds and
waterfowl numbers at several key locations, mainly of the latter including
increased numbers of both Greater White-fronted Geese and "Cackling" Canada
Geese, despite persistant heavy rain and moderate to heavy southerly winds,
creating blusterly conditions throughout the day until 4pm, when then skies
began to clear for the first time of the day, then locally dense fog formed
around the Ocean Shores area as we headed towards Bowerman Basin. Our two
main locations that showed the most diversity included Bowerman Basin/Hoquim
STP, and Bill's Spit due to the relatively good numbers of waterfowl, gulls,
and shorebirds, as most birds seemed to rest out the stormy conditions, but
would occasionally be seen foraging as well. The evening visit to Bowerman
Basin yielded a large,extensive flock of shorebirds that was visible along
Hwy.109 between MP 3 and 4 at incoming tide, just west of the Hoquim city
limits. Waterfowl numbers were most evident to consist of geese numbers
being the highest concentrations at most locations,either of resting birds
or migrating birds coming from the north, as well as scattered numbers of
Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, and American Wigeons in that order of
relative abundance. A list of our highlights follows at selected locations,
as they occured:

Hoquim STP 10am-10:15am

14 Greater White-fronted Geese

Ocean Shores Golf Course 10:40am

8 Greater White-fronted Geese
1 Black-bellied Plover
227 California Gulls

Ocean Shores Jetty 11:12am-12:30pm

42 Brown Pelicans
23 Heermann's Gulls
8 Black-legged Kittiwakes
1 dark-morph POMARINE JAEGER(observing chasing several Black-legged
Kittiwakes and Heermann's Gulls)
12 Am.Pipits

Ocean Shores STP 12:35pm

1 Greater White-fronted Goose
1 "Cackling"Canada Goose

Bill's Spit 12:45pm-1:15pm(outgoing tide)

17 Greater White-fronted Geese
45"Cackling"Canada Geese
78 Green-winged Teal
205 Northern Pintails
132 Am.Wigeon
2 Red-breasted Mergansers
223 Black-bellied Plovers
2 Semipalmated Plovers
17 Long-billed Curlews
43 Marbled Godwits(high count for location)
62 Sanderlings
875+ Western Sandpipers
32 Least Sandpipers
630+ Dunlin
14 Heermann's Gulls
57 Mew Gulls
188 Ring-billed Gulls
1,850+ California Gulls(high count for location)

Ocean Shores Game Range(accessed from Tonquin Ave.) 1:30pm-2:15pm

185 "Cackling"Canada Geese
17 Greater White-fronted Geese
1 Greater Scaup
1 Common Merganser
2 Ring-necked Pheasants
18 Black-bellied Plovers
164 Western Sandpipers
6 Least Sandpipers
1 Pectoral Sandpiper
78 Dunlin
1 Long-billed Dowitcher
8 Yellow-rumped Warblers
13 Savannah Sparrows
7 Fox Sparrows
1 Lincoln's Sparrow
8 Golden-crowned Sparrows
1 White-crowned Sparrow
1 Lapland Longspur

Damon Point 2:30pm-3:30pm(incoming tide)

1 Red-necked Grebe
28 Brown Pelicans
68 "Cackling"Canada Geese
72 Northern Pintials
1 Ring-necked Pheasant
16 Black-bellied Plovers
12 Semipalmated Plovers
2 Greater Yellowlegs
22 Sanderlings
45 Western Sandpipers
4 Least Sandpipers
10 Dunlin
4 Long-billed Dowitchers
2 Common Snipe
12 Heermann's Gulls
7 Mew Gulls
34 Ring-billed Gulls
92 California Gulls
6 Horned Larks
22 Savannah Sparrows
13 Lapland Longspurs
2 Western Meadowlarks

Ocean Shores STP 4pm-4:18pm

1 Greater White-fronted Goose
1 "Cackling"Canada Goose
2 Northern Shovelers
2 Greater Yellowlegs
2 Pectoral Sandpipers

Ocean Shores Marina 4:30pm

1 Cooper's Hawk
1 Merlin

Hwy.115/Ocean City State Park 4:45pm-5pm

72 Greater White-fronted Geese
380 "Cackling"Canada Geese
1 Merlin

Bowerman Basin/Hoquim STP 5:30pm-6pm

10 Brown Pelicans
17 Green-winged Teal
15 Northern Pintail
20 Northern Shovelers
2 female Canvasback
28 Ring-necked Ducks
14 Greater Scaup
26 Lesser Scaup
1 Common Goldeneye
11 Ruddy Ducks
1 Peregrine Falcon
270+ Black-bellied Plovers
1 Marbled Godwit(relatively uncommon for location)
1 Ruddy Turnstone(quite late for coastal location)
7 Red Knots
560+ Western Sandpipers
78 Dunlin
4 Short-billed Dowitchers
6 Heermann's Gulls
87 Mew Gulls
34 Ring-billed Gulls
54 California Gulls


Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
GODWIT at worldnet.att.net