Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I located a single TROPICAL KINGBIRD along Hwy.101 at
the Bay Center-Dike Rd.,just east of the town of Bay Center in Pacific Co.
that we observed and photographed between 4:45pm-5:30pm after my mother
originally found the bird before me,as it actively foraged from exposed
telephone wires,trees,and a single wooden snag on the east side of
Hwy.101(south of the Palix River bridge)bordering the Palix River. The bird
most often foraged on the east side of Hwy.101,but would occasionally fly
over to the west side of Hwy.101 near a small Red Alder thicket bordering a
small wetland/pond. We believe this is the same exact area Dennis Paulson
observed a single immature Red-shouldered Hawk on the 4th of October,where
today we had a single adult Red-tailed Hawk perched in a Red Alder that
later was occupied briefly by the Tropical Kingbird. My mother was able to
capture several good photographs of the bird at fairly close range,as the
bird foraged from wire to wire actively flycatching,but the bird remained
unvocal during our entire visit. A few additional species of note along Bay
CEnter-Dike Rd. included:

15 "Dusky"Canada Geese
2 "Cackling"Cnada Geese
1 Wilson's Snipe

Our other highlight of the day in the general vicinity was up to 12 adult
WHITE-TAILED KITES located upon two seperate visits to a location along
Hwy.101 between MP 50.8 and 51.1(west of South Bend). We originally located
3 adult birds driving by on our way to Bay Center at 4:15pm,but on our way
back from Bay Center we managed to stop and pull off of Hwy.101 and get an
accurate count of up to 12 adult birds that seemed to become more active
during our second visit between 5:45pm-6:15pm by hunting the open fields,as
well as perch in exposed vegetation clumps bordering Willapa Bay(mouth of
the Willapa River)to the north and Hwy.101 to the south,which seemed to come
from all directions within a fairly small area. It seemed the general area
hosts good populations of rodents for the White-tailed Kits to feed on,as
well as for other raptor species with this fairly high concentration of
birds in a fairly small area.

Earlier in the day we began our trip at the Hoquim STP,where windy
conditions prevailed,but we managed to locate a few notable species bfore
continuing south on our way to Tokeland including:

22 Brown Pelicans
2 Greater White-fronted Geese
3 "Cackling"Canada Geese
16 Ring-necked Ducks
4 Greater Scaup
7 Lesser Scaup
3 Hodded Mergansers
2 Ruddy Ducks
1 Am.Coot
54 LONG-BILLED CURLEWS(roosting along the north shore of Grays Harbor
bordering the Hoquim STP)
4 Least Sandpipers
12 Long-billed Dowitchers
1 Bonaparte's Gull

Next, a quick stop made at Ocosta Third Street at 2pm produced a flock of 10
Wilson's Snipes that were flushed by a hunting Northern Harrier and resident
horses in a partially flooded pasture.

We arrived at Tokeland at incoming tide between 2:45pm-3:30pm,where
shorebird diversity and numbers were comparable to our last visit on the 9th
of October. The large shorebird flock was fairly spread out in the the
vicinity of the marina with a flock of Marbled Godwits roosting on the
furthest south dock in the marina,as well as the majority shorebird flock
feeding along the shoreline south of the marina with the following species
noted:

18 Western Grebes
4 Greater Yellowlegs(observed along a canal north of the entrance to
Tokeland)
15 Willets
2 Whimbrel
350+ Marbled Godwits
12 Long-billed Dowitchers


Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
GODWIT at worldnet.att.net