Subject: Ocean Shores/Bowerman Basin today
Date: Apr 28 18:57:28 2002
From: Christine Vadai - christinevadai at sprynet.com


Hi tweeters,

I took a quick trip to the coast for the Shorebird Festival today. It was a
truly beautiful day, and I got some very nice looks at a total of 71
species.

I arrived at the Bowerman Basin early, and found the fog had burned off and
the weather was beautiful, but ominously didn't find too many cars there.
The mudflats seemed barren of both water and birds. Fortunately, the bushes
along the sandpiper trail were bustling with activity, the highlights being
abundant COMMON YELLOWTHROATS and an unusually-yellow singing male
ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER a few feet off the boardwalk. There were lots of
other songbirds as well, including Bewick's Wren, a Swainson's thrush,
Yellow-rumped Warblers, and Golden-crowned Sparrows. I also heard a
VIRGINIA RAIL calling fairly close the trail. The only shorebirds seen here
were a virtual blanketing of SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS a little far out, a flock
of
peeps even farther away, and a nearby BALD EAGLE who kept everyone active.
I also noticed a single SNOW GOOSE sitting among a small flock of Canada
Geese, and just as I was leaving, a flock of GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE
landed at the edge of the mudflats, almost immediately in front of the car.

Next, I checked out Damon Point St. Park, and found a number of WHIMBRELs,
SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERs, Dunlin and PACIFIC GOLDEN PLOVERS, among several
SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERs. The plovers and dunlin were mostly in breeding
plumage, and looked gorgeous in the bright sunlight. I was observing a
flock of Surf Scoters offshore, when they all suddenly dove! I managed to
get a lock on the invading PEREGRINE just as he tore past.

Finally, I went to investigate Twin Harbors St. Park near Westport, and
found that bobbing in the surf was a nice variety of seabirds: at least one
RED-THROATED LOON, Common Loons, and several PACIFIC LOONs (at least half in
breeding plumage, and looking vibrant in the sunlight!). There were also a
large number of COMMON MURREs swimming very close offshore, a RED-NECKED
GREBE, and
constant fly-bys of Surf Scoters, Red-breasted Mergansers and Western
Sandpipers.

The final highlight of the day came a bit further down the coast, as another
PEREGRINE was flying so low, it passed me on the highway going the opposite
direction!

Regards and good birding,
Christine Vadai
Mill Creek, WA
christinevadai at sprynet.com
http://www.christinevadai.com