Hello Tweets,

Today Dave Hayden, and my mother and I birded a fairly large coastal route
from Tokeland to Ocean Shores with 11.5 hours of decent birding with a total
of 108 species for the day. Weather conditions were very favorable
throughout the day with partly cloudy to mostly sunny skies, but NO wind,
which to our advantage. We encountered several highlights at a few
locations, but probably our best species of the day was the two BAR-TAILED
GODWITS at the Tokeland Marina, being our first stop at 7:40am at outgoing
tide. We immediately located the adult female Bar-tailed Godwit amongst a
flock of Marbled Godwits containing 360+ birds, which has presumably
remained since July 22nd. The second and much more difficult individual to
identify was a juvenal female located within the same flock, as the godwit
flock shifted around, as we carefully scoped the flock. This is the same
individual that Bob Sundstrom located on the 16th of October going by Bob's
description, and the bird we believe we located and photographed on the 13th
of October, but were very unsure of the bird's plumage due to the molting,
overall drab gray-brown plumage, but the completely white underparts, and
partial white supercillium were very evident. Soon after watching the
juvenal Bar-tailed Godwit it flew off to an unknown location, but the adult
female remained with a smaller flock of Marbled Godwits. Overall shorebird
numbers were good, due to increased numbers of southbound migrating Dunlins,
and Western Sandpipers at several locations including Bottle Beach, Damon
Point, and the Ocean Shores Game Range, with our biggest flock at one
location consisting of up to 10,000 birds over North Bay and conntinuing
south over Damon Point, then swirling back north in three seperate flocks.
We also managaed to encounter another falcon catching it's pray, but this
time watching it eating it, which happened to be an adult Peregrine Falcon,
and it's prey a 1st year Glaucous-winged Gull, which was already presumably
injured at Bill's Spit. The falcon managed to kill the gull within seconds,
then was able to be observed working on it's prey at fairly close range
until we left the location. A list of our highlights follows at listed
locations and times below:

Tokeland,Pacific Co.(PA) 7:40am-9:50am(outgoing/incoming tide)

42 Common Loons
9 Brown Pelicans
1 Bufflehead
3 Northern Harriers
1 Sharp-shinned Hawk
13 Black-bellied Plovers
1 Semipalmated Plover
14 Willets
3 Whimbrel
35 Long-billed Curlews
2 BAR-TAILED GODWITS
365+ Marbled Godwits
14 Long-billed Dowitchers
37 Heermann's Gulls
12 Caspian Terns
1 Pileated Woodpecker
12 Varied Thrushes
34 Cedar Waxwings
4 Townsend's Warblers
1 PALM WARBLER
11 Savannah Sparrows
18 Fox Sparrows
3 WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS
17 Golden-crowned Sparrows
9 White-crowned Sparrows
2 Purple Finches

S.R.105, mouth of the Cedar River at MP 16,PA 10am-10:15am

2 Ring-necked Ducks
1 Common Snipe
2 Townsend's Warblers

S.R.105 at MP 20, south of North Cove,PA 10:25am-10:35am

6 Western Grebes
17 Brown Pelicans
28 Surf Scoters
75+ Heermann's Gulls
80+ California Gulls
1 Herring Gull

S.R.105 at the Elk River,Grays Harbor Co.(GH) 10:55am

45+ Brown Pelicans

Bottle Beach,GH 11am-11:40am(incoming tide)

7 Great Egrets
350+ Northern Pintail
1 Eurasian Wigeon
700+ American Wigeons
2 Northern Harriers
1 adult Peregrine Falcon
35 Black-bellied Plovers
14 Greater Yellowlegs
75+ Sanderlings
120+ Western Sandpipers
30 Least Sandpipers
670+ Dunlin
8 Short-billed Dowitchers
5 Long-billed Dowitchers
16 Cedar Waxwings
3 Savannah Sparrows
14 Fox Sparrows

S.R.109 at MP 3(Bowerman Basin),GH 12:25pm-12:45pm

18 Brown Pelicans
32+ Green-winged Teal
85+ Northern Pintails
54 Northern Shovelers
3 Eurasian Wigeons
470+ Am.Wigeons
32+ Black-bellied Plovers
1 Semipalmated Plover
3 Marbled Godwits
80+ Western Sandpipers
175+ Dunlin

Bill's Spit 1:20pm-1:45pm

6 Brown Pelicans
14 Northern Pintail
1 Black Scoter
34 Surf Scoters
7 White-winged Scoters
1 Greater Scaup
1 adult Peregrine Falcon w/prey
23 Black-bellied Plovers
1 Greater Yellowlegs
1 Marbled Godwit
7 Least Sandpipers
24 Dunlin
32 Mew Gulls
78+ Ring-billed Gulls
5,500+ California Gulls
35+ Herring Gulls
37+ Yellow-rumped Warblers
3 Savannah Sparrows
13 Fox Sparrows
7 Golden-crowned Sparrows

Ocean Shores Game Range/Damon Point,GH 2pm-3:20pm

3 Red-throated Loons
37 Common Loons
18 Horned Grebes
1 Red-necked Grebe
7 Western Grebes
22 Brown Pelicans
6 Greater Scaups
25 Black Scoters
68+ Surf Scoters
17 White-winged Scoters
7 Red-breasted Mergansers
1 Northern Harrier
8 Black-bellied Plovers
7 Sanderlings
320+ Western Sandpipers
750+ Dunlin
17 Heermann's Gulls
3 American Pipits
1 Orange-crowned Warbler
3 Yellow-rumped Warbler
5 Savannah Sparrows
4 Fox Sparrows
13 Golden-crowned Sparrows

Ocean Shores Marina,GH 3:28pm-3:40pm(outgoing tide)

2 Common Loons
1 Greater Yellowlegs
11 Black Turnstones
10,000+ Dunlin
6 Herring Gulls
1 THAYER'S GULL

Ocean Shores STP,GH 4pm-4:20pm

16 Brown Pelicans
4 Green-winged Teal
1 female BLUE-WINGED TEAL(late date for location)
38 Northern Shovelers
1 REDHEAD(personal first for location)
1 Greater Scaup
2 Northern Harriers
2 Pectoral Sandpipers
2 Common Snipes

Ocean Shores Game Range(accessed from Tonquin Ave.),GH 4:40pm-5pm

3 Northern Harriers
1 Taiga Merlin
1 Semipalmated Plover
45+ Western Sandpipers
8 Least Sandpipers
370+ Dunlin

Ocean Shores Golf Course,GH 5:12pm-5:25pm

8 Greater White-fronted Geese
5 "Cackling"Canada Geese
3 Common Snipes

Hoquim STP,GH 5:50pm-6:05pm

17 Brown Pelicans
9 Greater White-fronted Geese
5 Canvasbacks
34 Ring-necked Ducks
22 Greater Scaups
18 Lesser Scaups
1 Common Goldeneye
11 Ruddy Ducks
4 Least Sandpipers
23 Heermann's Gulls

Aberdeen,GH 6:15pm

1 Black Merlin


Good Birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
GODWIT at worldnet.att.net