Hey tweets, John and I drove down to Westport before dawn this morning,
surfboard strapped to the top of the car. (John is not really a birder, I
confess; he's a surfer at heart - his ideal trip is one where he can surf
and I can bird and neither one of us dances from foot to foot impatiently
waiting for the other one to finish his or her hobby.) The weather report
called for a huge swell (30-45 feet at times), bands of rain spaced out
with sun breaks, mild temperatures and high winds. The last time we went to
Westport under similar conditions, the wind was blowing so hard that I
couldn't keep my hair out of my face, even with a hat on. The only way I
could look through my binoculars was to bend over at the waist so my hair
hung straight down, clap my binoculars to my eyes and then straighten up
again. The rain and sand were blowing hard, too, so my lenses would get all
covered with water and sand almost immediately. I had to wipe them off
after only a few seconds, bend, clap, look, etc. The locals must have been
rolling in the aisles. As a true birder, however, I was completely
oblivious to how ludicrous I looked. Isn't that true for all of us? Come
on, admit it. Only bicyclists look sillier and care even less than we do.

At any rate, this time I came prepared. I had my hair cut short. Even so,
the wind blew so strongly at times that I would have needed a buzz cut in
order to see well. John did have a buzz cut, more or less, but he had
forgotten to bring a warm enough jacket, so he had to wrap his surfer towel
around his torso under his shirt to stay warm. The towel keep slipping down
and flapping in the breeze, so I'm afraid he looked as unique as I did.
Just another chapter in the ongoing saga, "The Sidles Family Goes Birding."

The wind and high surf were chewing away the beach that the Army Corps of
Engineers lays down every summer. This season, I think the waves will
breach the jetty again, as they did a few years ago. The lovely bathroom
behind the sand dunes will probably end up in Davy Jones' locker. This will
sadden the surfers and will remind them of the loss of their beautiful
shower building, which slid into the waves about a decade ago but which is
still remembered fondly. If you ask a long-time surfer to point out where
the showers used to be, he will indicate an area about a quarter-mile out
to sea. The bathroom building is now only a couple hundred yards (if that)
from the breaking surf. If effect, the beach is almost gone. We stood on
what's left of the last set of dunes and looked down; the waves were
reaching the base of the dune even at low tide. At high tide, they would
pound the dune itself. It's an awesome sight, but one that we had to admire
from the shore. The waves were too big for John to surf.

We ventured out a little way onto the jetty but couldn't go more than fifty
feet, as the waves were breaking over the jetty completely during some
sets. We did see a flock of ten surfbirds (no rock sandpipers, though). We
also saw red phalaropes. They littered the water near shore everywhere in
Westport. We saw them at the jetty, the bay, the groins, even the marina.
In fact, at one point, I was on the bridge at the marina looking directly
down on a phalarope working its feet to bring up food. It paid no attention
to me, so I got very close looks at it. Beautiful bird. Also on view were
brown pelicans simply everywhere - too many to count. There were quite a
few pelagic cormorants too, willing to allow close looks, so that was nice.
Common loons filled the marina and were successfully catching lots of fish.
It's always fun to look down on them and see them sticking their eyes
underwater as they hunt. We saw no pelagic birds at all, except for the
phalaropes. The wind was strong from the south, so that did not favor
blowing birds into Westport.

On the way home, we stopped on the far (Seattle) side of that soaring
bridge that goes over some waterway not named in DeLorme but it's a branch
of South Bay. We saw six great egrets! We also saw one in the field near
Westport, but that one did not stick around. To find the six near the
bridge, drive from Twin Harbors State Park, 1.5 mi east on 105, look south.
You'll see an open area of waterway, flats, ponds, etc. Scattered among the
flats are numerous white signs. Some of these signs are really great
egrets. Look carefully with good binoculars.

Also on the way home, we stopped at Gog-le-hi-te and saw a greater
white-fronted goose *and* an immature snow goose, both very beautiful. The
snow goose is especially worth looking at. It's almost feather-for-feather
the way that National Geo portrays it.

Now as I write this, the rain is pelting down. It seems to be settling in
for a long stay, the way rain tends to do in Seattle in November. We
definitely got the best part of the day. But if the weather should clear
again this long weekend, I would recommend that you go to Westport. The
swell is supposed to continue really big for another two days. You'll be
looking at 30-45-foot waves in an ocean so immense that you won't notice
that the waves are really the size of apartment buildings. - Connie, Seattle

csidles at isomedia.com