Hi All,
Birded Foulweather Bluff and Point-No-Point on Sunday, Sept 1,
starting with partly overcast skies but mild temperatures. At Nature
Conservancy the water levels in the marsh have dropped exposing more
shoreline than I have seen in recent years. We had very good looks at 2
Virginia Rails, 4 Semi-palmated Plovers, 1 Spotted Sandpiper and 2 Pectoral
Sandpipers. On the main trail walking out I also noted 2 Hutton's Vireos, 1
Warbling Vireo, 1 Bewick's Wren all in with a flock of Black-capped and
Chestnut-backed Chickadees. Just before leaving the beach area a flock of
about 200 terns flew over heading north, but high up making any specific ID
tough. Also, I found a road -killed Barred Owl just before the pulloff to
the conservancy trail. It had'nt been there too long since it was still warm.
Stopping at Point-No-Point ( massed with fishermanon today ),
we scoped a large flock of Bonaparte's Gulls (300+), which had 5 Common Terns
in with them, and further out 100 Red-necked Phalaropes landed and began
feeding. The wind then began to really pick-up so the waterbirds became
really tough. In the wetland there, large flocks of Barn and Tree Swallows
hawked the area along with juvenile House and Purple Finches, plus 3 imm
Golden-crowned Sparrows. The wetland ponds there were dry and have been for
some time so no shorebirds. At that point, a misty wind- blown rain came in
and so we called it a day.
Good birding,
Doug Watkins
dougnpip at aol.com
Bainbridge Is Wa.