Hello Tweets,

Today Dave Hayden , and my mother and I birded coastal Grays Harbor and
Pacific Cos., mainly from Ocean Shores to Tokeland, as we were fortunate to
locate several notable highlights during the entire day, including a single
BLACK SWIFT at Tokeland, probably being the first Pacific Co. record to
date. The weather was excellent with NO rain, except on our drive to Ocean
Shores from Tacoma, which upon arriving at Ocean Shores greatly improved,
but occasional wind persisted earlier than normal. We checked most of the
most notable shorebirding locations along the Ocean Shores-Tokeland route
including Damon Point, Ocean Shores Game Range, Marine View Drive beach
access in Ocean Shores, and Tokeland, with a few additional stops to
destinations. In general shorebird counts were quite low, but we managed to
locate 24 species of shorebirds throughout the day, including the
non-breeding male plumaged BAR-TAILED GODWIT that was photographed at
Tokeland. This bird appears to be the same individual noted by us on the
22nd of July, then by Michael Dossett on the 18th of August, then noted
again by us on the 25th of August. This would most be likely to be the same
bird as ALL descriptions and features of the bird match perfectly, and to
end the sighting with several photographes with our sighting today. This
bird during ALL observations was extremely easy to identify amongst the
larger, buffier Marbled Godwits nearby in association, with it's overall
paler plumage consisting of white upperparts, and underparts, dark brown
contrasting back, and white supercillium. This bird seemed to allude us two
previous times, and others as well, especially for photographes until today.

Our highlights for the entire day follow at selected locations as they
occured:

Hwy.101 at MP 363(Mud Bay/Eld Inlet),Thurston Co. 7:30am

1 GREAT EGRET

Ocean Shores Golf Course,Grays Harbor Co.(GH) 8:50am-9am

1 Lesser Yellowlegs

Ocean Shores Jetty,GH 9:20am-10:20am(incoming tide)

84 Pacific Loons(high count)
232 Brown Pelicans
680+ Sooty Shearwaters
67 Surf Scoters
12 White-winged Scoters
2 Ruddy Turnstones
6 Black Turnstones
13 Surfbirds
17 Red-necked Phalaropes
1 juvenile Peregrine Falcon

Ocean Shores STP-O.S.Game Range,GH(accessed from Oceans Shores Blvd.)
10:25am-11am

1 female Red-breasted Merganser
1 immature Spotted Sandpiper
1 Least Sandpiper
2 juvenal Pecoral Sandpipers
1 Long-billed Dowitcher

Damon Point,GH 11:10am-1:20pm(outgoing tide)

1 dead Red-throated Loon
34 Brown Pelicans
11 Green-winged Teal
1 adult Tundra Peregrine Falcon
5 Black-bellied Plovers
13 Semipalmated Plovers
1 Greater Yellowlegs
1 SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER(photographed with 1 Baird's Sandpiper, and 1 Least
Sandpiper at the Damon Point "pond", where most listed shorebirds occured)
190 Western Sandpipers
32 Least Sandpipers
1 Baird's Sandpiper
5 Pectoral Sandpipers
23 Short-billed Dowitchers(flying over)
2 Horned Larks(1 adult, 1 juvenile)

Bill's Spit,GH 1:40pm-1:50pm, 3:15pm

1 female Red-breasted Merganser
1 Peregrine Falcon
12 Least Sandpipers

Marine View Drive beach access,GH(accessed from Ocean Shores Blvd. at the
west end of Marine View Drive, north of the Ocean Shores Jetty) 2pm-2:45pm

340+ Sooty Shearwaters
22 Brown Pelicans
1 adult Tundra Peregrine Falcon w/ recently captured Short-billed Dowitcher
320+ Black-bellied Plovers
62 Red Knots
2,000+ Sanderlings
330+ Western sandpipers
1 alternate plumaged Dunlin
112 Short-billed Dowitchers

Cyber Lake,GH(south of Ocean City State Park along S.R.115) 3:40pm-3:50pm

47 Greater Yellowlegs
1 Lesser Yellowlegs

Hoquim STP,GH 4:10pm-4:23pm

1 male Greater Scaup
1 female Common Goldeneye
1 female Bufflehead
1 immature Spotted Sandpiper
9 Red-necked Phalaropes

Tokeland,Pacific Co. 5:30pm-6:55pm(outgoing tide)

2 Greater Yellowlegs
1 Lesser Yellowlegs
12 Willets
10 Whimbrel
1 BAR-TAILED GODWIT
247 Marbled Godwit
2 Mew Gulls
1 BLACK SWIFT


Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
GODWIT at worldnet.att.net