Hello Tweeters,

Went birding today along with Carol Schulz and Ilene Samowitz in
several parts of Gray's Harbor Co. Most notable birds today (and by far the
highest numbers of birds) were at Bottle Beach, with captivating numbers of
shorebirds here. Our first birding was done on a short drive up Rock Candy
Mountain Rd west of Olympia, where dozens of WILSON'S WARBLERS were singing,
with lesser numbers of TOWNSEND'S, BLACK-THROATED GRAY, and ORANGE-CROWNED
WARBLERS. Also had a probable NORTHERN GOSHAWK calling from the thick woods
(it only called once), and a couple of PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHERS.

Thence onto the Schouweiler Rd wetland (Chehalis Wildlife Area), but
first we noted 8 WHIMBREL in a short grass field near MM 19 (across the
highway from Vance Creek County Park). At Schouweiler we had quite a lot of
VIRGINIA RAILS, a single AMERICAN BITTERN, several OSPREY, and a winnowing
COMMON SNIPE. After that we drove to John's River, where we had numbers of
shorebirds on the distant mudflats, but nothing notable close in. We proceded
the 2-3 miles to Bottle Beach, where we observed a male RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD in
it's "J-flight" on the way to the beach. We arrived at the beach at the
perfect time; the tide was coming in and there were tens of thousands of
shorebird in the area. Actual shorebird numbers when you get this many birds
are always difficult to cogitate, but I'm satisfied saying we probably saw a
quarter million shorebirds here. Many thousands each of WESTERN SANDPIPERS,
DUNLIN, SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS, SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS, and BLACK-BELLIED
PLOVERS blanketed the shoreline and filled the air with their calls. The
following other birds were seen:
12 BRANT
~10 Greater Yellowlegs
2 Lesser Yellowlegs
70+ RED KNOTS
1 LONG-BILLED CURLEW
6 RUDDY TURNSTONES

Along Ocosta Third Street across from the Bottle Beach parking lot we
had very good numbers of shorebirds in the flooded fields at high tide. These
included 300+ SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS, approximately 50 LONG-BILLED
DOWITCHERS, 25 SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS, 15 GREATER and 6 LESSER YELLOWLEGS, 30+
LEAST SANDPIPERS, and a few others. Next was the Westport Jetty, where we had
1 premature BROWN PELICAN, about 20 imm. BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES, several
BLACK TURNSTONES, a single SURFBIRD, and a defunct alcid (either a Cassin's
Auklet or something much rarer, but unfortunately the gulls ate it before it
washed to shore).

On our way back, we again saw WHIMBRELS in nearly the same field where
we saw them in the morning; across the highway from Vance Creek County Park.
However, this time there were many more here, with a count of 74 birds! A
stop at Nisqually NWR yielded nothing more than 20 LEAST SANDPIPERS and a
dozen DUNLIN, although my first YELLOW WARBLERS of the year were singing
here. All for now, good birding.

Charlie Wright
Birdking88 at aol.com
Sumner, WA