Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and had an enjoyable,calm day of birding in Grays Harbor Co.,beginning with the juvenile RUFF at Elma north of Hwy.12 in a large,open pasture,as it loosely foraged amongst other shorebirds during two visit to thelocation. This was an exceptional sighting,and a very late date for this species,which reminded us of the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper we located on the 30th of November,2001 near Satsop along Wenzel Slough Rd. We began our day at Vance Creek Co. Park near Elma and continued west to the Hoquiam STP,stopping and checking a few locations on the way to Ocean Shores. The day as mentioned was exceptionally calm compared to conditions present during the past few days in western WA,with mostly sunny skies after isolated morning fog,with only moderate winds at times near the immediate coastline. We managed to run into a few birding parties at Ocean Shores,which we shared the Ruff sighting with and we were very happy to relocate the bird on our way home at the same location. We had a very good day at Ocean Shores with several notable highlights including continued numbers of RED PHALAROPES that were observed from two main locations at Ocean Shores,as well as a few pelagic species that were noteworthy from the Ocean Shores Jetty during our afternoon visit to that location,including a single first-year SABINE'S GULL. Continuing east we located a dark-morph GYRFALCON that flew across Marine View Drive immedaitely east of the cement water tower at Lake Minard and west of Damon Point,as it flew towards the Ocean Shores Game Range,which was our third personal record for Ocean Shores. Overall we encountered few shorebirds away from a large flock of 650+Dunlin on the Ocean Shores Game Range(accessed from the Ocean Shores STP),but waterbird numbers were exceptionally good,including large numbers of Pacific Loons off the Ocean Shores Jetty,and large numbers of Surf and White-winged Scoters noted at several locations at Ocean Shores. A list of our notable highlights for the day at selected locations and times follows below:


Hwy.12 at Elma 8:35am

1 Western Scrub Jay

Vance Creek Co.Park near Elma 8:45am-8:55am

1 Common Loon
1 Western Grebe
6 Tundra Swans
1 Western Scrub Jay

Hwy.12 at MP 18.9/Monte Elma Rd.(west of Elma) 9am-10am,4:20pm-4:40pm

1 Am.Kestrel
138 Black-bellied Plovers
8 Least Sandpipers
17 Dunlin
1 juvenile RUFF
1 Long-billed Dowitcher
2 Band-tailed Pigeons
1 Western Scrub Jay

Keys Rd.(accessed from Hwy.12) 10:15am

1 Black Merlin
1 Western Scrub Jay

Hoquiam STP 10:45am-11:05am

2 "Dusky"Canada Geese
18 "Cackling"Canada Geese
1 BLUE-WINGED TEAL
108 Canvasbacks
1 Common Goldeneye
11 Hooded Mergansers
2 Ruddy Ducks
8 Dunlin
15 Long-billed Dowitchers
1 Bonaparte's Gull

Ocean Shores Jetty 12pm-12:30pm

250+ Pacific Loons
6 NORTHERN FULMARS
80+ Surfbirds
7 ROCK SANDPIPERS(dominant race)
135+ RED PHALAROPES
7 Black-legged Kittiwakes
1 SABINE'S GULL
3 Marbled Murrelets

Ocean Shores Game Range/Ocean Shores STP 12:40pm-1:25pm

12 Red-throated Loons
1 Eared Grebe
5 Brown Pelicans
12 "Dusky"Canada Geese
24 Black Scoters
13 Black-bellied Plovers
4 Black Turnstones
1 Sanderling
12 Least Sandpipers
650+ Dunlin
15 RED PHALAROPES(including 1 observed at the Ocean Shores STP)
4 Heermann's Gulls

Marine View Drive(west of Damon Point) 1:30pm

1 GYRFALCON

Bill's Spit 1:40pm-1:50pm

28 Long-billed Curlews
5 Least Sandpipers
14 Dunlin

Damon Point 2pm-2:40pm

9 Black-bellied Plovers
2 Semipalmated Plovers
8 Sanderlings
18 Least Sandpipers
32 Dunlin
1 Bonaparte's Gull
18 Herring Gulls
1 adult Thayer's Gull
8 Black-legged Kittiwakes
2 Horned Larks
1 Lincoln's Sparrow
7 Lapland Longspurs
1 Western Meadowlark

Marine View Drive/Driftwood Drive beach access 2:45pm-3:15pm

1 Northern Fulmar(found dead)
3 Brown Pelicans
1 Cooper's Hawk
1 RED PHALAROPE


Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
GODWIT at worldnet.att.net