Subject: A Lone Red Knot at Bottle Beach
Date: Apr 21 13:14:49 2002
From: Marcus.D.Roening at gsk.com - Marcus.D.Roening at gsk.com


Hi Tweets,

On Sunday, April 21st, Heather Ballash and I found a lone RED KNOT at
Bottle Beach SP on the South side of Grays Harbor amongst a flock of
several thousand other shorebirds. We arrived at 7:30am about 1/2 hour
before high tide and scoped the 20 or so Short-billed Dowitchers on the
pilings, but otherwise it was quite empty. As the tide started receding
about 8:15am the birds started coming in by groups of 100's and then by a
1000! For a moment the entire horizon was a whir of Dunlin wings - quite
breath taking. The final count was:

70 Black-bellied Plovers - about 60% in breeding plumage
6 Semipalmated Plovers
5 Killdeer
12 Greater Yellowlegs - 4 had the beautiful black back feathers fringed
in white of breeding plumage and one started its rollicking breeding song.
I've never heard it outside of Alaska before. Reminds me of the Spotted
Sandpiper song. NO Lesser Yellowlegs.
1 Long-billed Curlew
1 Marbled Godwit - doing the "God Wit' " call
1 RED KNOT in breeding plumage. When we first saw it, the bird was about
250 yds. east of the trail feeding with Black-bellied Plovers up in the
higher, drier mudflat. Later it was working the water filled spaces in the
flats with the Short-billed Dowitchers.
2 Sanderlings
30 Western Sandpipers - most coming into breeding plumage
4000 Dunlin - about 40% with black bellies and bright rufous backs
200 Short-billed Dowitchers in breeding plumage - calling every time they
moved around with a musical tu-tu. However, they kept throwing in some
other "er" notes, that kept me looking for something else until I pinned it
down to the dowitchers. Of course, I had to double-check with Paulson'
Shorebirds of the Northwest for the umpteenth time to work out how to tell
apart "quiet" dowitchers. Heather wondered aloud how many times I've read
that section.

As the tide receded the Dunlins spread out along the tide line for as far
as we could see in either direction. You can actually hike about 1/2 mile
east on the beach until you get to the end of the State Park boundary.
This is not an improved site. You access it by pulling off in a short spur
about 2.5 miles W of the Elk River bridge on SR 105, right at the bend in
the road. There is room for maybe 4 cars, if you're friends.

A couple of Trip Highlights in Grays Harbor County:

4/20: 80 Marbled Godwits on the inside of the Westport Marina breakwater
4/20: 50 Townsend's Warblers in tight migrant flocks and 2 White-fronted
Geese on the east side of the St. John's River impoundment
4/21: 27 Sandhill Cranes gaining altitude above Brady Loop Road heading
north.

Good Birding,

Marcus Roening
Tacoma, WA
marcus.d.roening at gsk.com