Subject: Coastal Birding 2/26
Date: Feb 26 20:08:44 2002
From: Birdking88 at aol.com - Birdking88 at aol.com


Hey Tweeters,
I chased the various rarities in Gray's Harbor & Pacific Counties today
along with Carol Schulz, with great success. We didn't see a single cloud the
entire day! Listed below are the highlights.

Hoquiam STP, Gray's Harbor Co:
200+ scaups (both species, slightly more Lesser than Greater)
1 ad. male TUFTED DUCK (sitting on partially submerged log in the SW corner)
2 Canvasbacks
5 Common Goldeneyes
The scaups were constantly flying back and forth between to Sewage Pond and
Gray's Harbor.

Bottle Beach, Gray's Harbor Co: (very high tide)
11 Black-bellied Plovers
1 Long-billed Dowitcher
30 Dunlin
3 Least Sandpipers
5 Western Sandpipers
1 first winter male COMMON YELLOWTHROAT

Warrenton-Cannery Road, Pacific Co:
40 Sanderlings
15 Dunlin
2 Semipalmated Plovers

Highway 101; between MM 50 and 51 west of South Bend, Pacific Co:
1500 Canada Geese (many Duskys and Cacklers)
6 Greater White-fronted Geese
1 EMPEROR GOOSE
2 Virginia Rails
1 Rough-legged Hawk
1 juv. White-tailed Kite

Chehalis Wildlife Area/Shoeweiler Road, Gray's Harbor Co:
5 Ring-necked Ducks
2 Common Snipe

Olympia (Mockingbird location) Thurston Co:
1 NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD
3 Western Scrub-Jays
The Mockingbird was foraging in the same area as it has been described
previously. It was feeding voraciously on some apple slices someone had laid
out on the ground. My guess is that this bird will die shortly. It's in
pretty bad shape, with the constant sneezing/choking (throwing it's head
forward and making a sneezing noise). The surprise was that the bird had only
1 or 2 retrices left. I guess the bird must have narrowly escaped from being
a predator's lunch. The bird was quite tame and I did get some good video
footage.

Capitol Lake, Thurston Co:
25 Ruddy Ducks
15 scaup sp.
1 Barrow's Goldeneye

That's all, good birding!

Charlie Wright
Birdking88 at aol.com
Sumner, WA