Hello Tweets,

Yesterday(July 25th)my mother and I birded several areas on our primary
birding area for the day,being Ocean Shores including the Nisqually NWR and
Mud Bay(south end of Eld Inlet/Madrona Beach Rd. in Thurston Co. and the
Kennedy Creek Estuary in Mason Co.with all previous locations being checked
at slowly outgoing tide for roosting/foraging shorebirds. At Ocean Shores
the day was spent searching many of the usual roosting/foraging shorebird
locations including Bill's Spit and vicinity,and the beach access between
Driftwood Street and Butter Clam Street. The main area that hosted the
largest concentrations of shorebirds was again as in past weeks the beach
access areas with notable large numbers of shorebirds that were spread out
along the shoreline foraging,rather than roosting so we were able to count
only a portion of the actual shorebirds that were on the beach,as we looked
to the south of Driftwood Street and to the north of Butter Clam Street and
viewed more shorebirds in the low,drifting clouds along the shoreline.
Overall shorebird numbers were still quite high at most of the locations
that we checked within the Ocean Shores area,especially as indicated along
the immediate beach shoreline,BUT the shorebirds viewed at most lcations
were actively feeding and not roosting so perhaps they completely new birds
comapred to our previous visit(s). Short-billed Dowitchers remain the most
notcieable shorebird species with still remaining good numbers at most
locations,whereas we were unable to locate the large flocks of Marbled
Godwits at Bill's Spit/Damon Point today as in previous visits. We observed
presumably the same Dunlin than our last visit at two locations today,which
is also perhaps the same individual we observed on the 14th of July in
alternate plumage. At times the weather conditions at Ocean Shores remained
quite misty and drizzly along the immediate ocean,as we watched the foraging
shorebirds,but weather conditions further inland were only slightly more
improved with cloudy skies and some occasional wind. A list of our
highlights for the day follow below at selected locations and times:

Nisqually NWR,Thurston Co.(TH) 8am-8:15am

3 Greater Yellowlegs
2 Spotted Sandpipers
6 Least Sandpipers
8 Long-billed Dowitchers
1 Common Snipe

Mud Bay/Madrona Beach Rd.,TH 8:30am-8:37am

1 adult Green Heron
17 Killdeer
20 Greater Yellowlegs
3 Least Sandpipers
10 Bonaparte's Gulls(9 adults,1 juvenile)

Kennedy Creek Estuary,Mason Co. 9am-9:12am

2 Greater Yellowlegs
1 Long-billed Dowitcher
35 Bonaparte's Gulls(32 adults,3 juveniles)

Brady Loop Rd.,Grays Harbor Co.(GH) 9:50am

1 adult Green Heron
1 Cinnamon Teal

Cyber Lake,GH 11am-11:12am

3 Hooded Mergansers
82 Greater Yellowlegs
3 Short-billed Dowitchers
1 Olive-sided Flycatcher

Bill's Spit 11:30am-12:10pm,GH(incoming tide)

4 Common Loons
60+ Surf Scoters
15 White-winged Scoters
12 Black-bellied Plovers
27 Semipalmated Plovers
27 Whimbrel
2 Marbled Godwits
4 Red Knots
45+ Western Sandpipers
8 Least Sandpipers
1 Dunlin
275+ Short-billed Dowitchers

Duck Lake(accessed off of Discovery Ave. near the Ocean Shores Marina)
12:30pm

2 Green Herons(1 adult,1 immature)

Ocean Shores Jetty 1pm-2pm

2 Pacific Loons
47+ Brown Pelicans
1 female Harlequin Duck
7 Surf Scoters
5 White-winged Scoters
2 Wandering Tattlers
4 Ruddy Turnstones
8 Black Turnstones
2 Surfbirds
32+ Common Murres
18+ Pigeon Guillemots(with one bird in near winter plumage)

Driftwood Street beach access 2:05pm-2:50pm(outgoing tide)

17 Brown Pelicans
112 Black-bellied Plovers
37 Semipalmated Plovers
28 Red Knots
42+ Sanderlings
125+ Western Sandpipers
14 Least Sandpipers
1 Dunlin
220+ Short-billed Dowitchers
68 Heermann's Gulls
40+ Rhino.Auklets

Marine View Drive beach access 3pm-3:40pm

18 Black-bellied Plovers
64 Semipalmated Plovers
8 Red Knots
33+ Sanderlings
105+ Western Sandpipers
90+ Short-billed Dowitchers

Butter Clam Street beach access 3:45pm-4:15pm

68 Black-bellied Plovers
34 Semipalmated Plovers
15 Red Knots
72+ Sanderlings
90+ Western Sandpipers
75+ Short-billed Dowitchers
60+ Heermann's Gulls
27 California Gulls
42+ Caspian Terns

S.R.109 at Chenois Creek(north of Hoquim) 4:50pm

1 adult Cooper's Hawk

Hwy.12 at Satsop(east of the Satsop River bridge) 5:30pm

1 Western Scrub Jay


Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
GODWIT at worldnet.att.net