Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I birded our familiar route in Grays Harbor Co. between Elma and Bottle Beach with additional stops made at the Nisqually NWR and at the Hoquiam STP. We had a relatively slow day with no major highlights,but notable shorebird migration noted at Bottle Beach and along nearby Ocosta Third Street during incoming tide. We began our day between 9am-10am at the Nisqually NWR entrance area,then continued on to Elma along Wakefield Rd.,where we ran into Charlie Wright and Carol Schulz as we looked for sparrows including the Spizella sparrow,which we were unable to locate today upon two attempts during the day. During our morning visit along Wakefield Rd. we located a single White-throated Sparrow presumably the same individual we photographed on the 13th of April. We spent considerable time during both visits checking all the sparrow,as we walked the edges of the large,weedy field and encountered good numbers of Lincoln's Sparrows of up to 22 birds that were counted(including 2 birds heard and seen singing),which was our highest number for this location. The morning visit was the most productive,as the early evening visit after 5pm was much slower. After our morning visit to this location we headed to the Brady Loop Rd. complex along Foster Rd.,where Charlie and Carol joined us again while we counted up to 104 Greater Yellowlegs in the very wet,weedy field along with both species of dowitchers and good numbers of Wilson's Snipes,but the Ruff was not relocated. My mother and I then continued along Foster Rd. and checked the corn stubble fields at the south end of the road,then checked along the eastern portion of Brady Loop Rd. and continued onto Bottle Beach and the Ocosta area. We arrived at Bottle Beach at 2pm,as we watched the relatively small numbers of shorebirds foraging close to shore,as the tide moved closer to shore. The only main highlight at Bottle Beach was 4 Brown Pelicans observed flying out in Grays Harbor near Westport in our spotting scopes.We checked along Ocosta Third Street,which produced very large numbers of Short-billed Dowitchers and lesser numbers of Greater Yellowlegs and other shorebirds species among a few other notable bird species. Continuing back to Aberdeen we observed an adult Snow Goose foraging with small numbers of Canada Geese along S.R.105 near MP 38 at the Johns Rivers. At the Hoquiam STP the main pond continues to not produce good numbers of waterbirds,except for the "active' ponds that are inside the fenced area,as most of the scaups continue to forage along the shores of Grays harbor immediately south of the facilities. We located the lingering male Redhead amongst small numbers of scaup,which was the only notable highlight for the location. On our way home,as mentioned earlier we checked again along Wakefield Rd.,where Charlie and Carol joined us in search of sparrow activity until just after 6pm. A list of our other notable highlights for the day include the following:

Greater White-fronted Goose
1 at the east end of K Street in Hoquiam

"Black"Brant
75+ off Bottle Beach

Wood Duck
1 female at the Nisqually NWR

Cinnamon Teal
5 at the Nisqually NWR
1 along Ocosta Third Street

Eurasian Wigeon
1 male at the Nisqually NWR

Turkey Vulture
8 along Brady Loop Rd.
1 along Hwy.12 at Elma
1 along Hwy.12 at Montesano
1 along S.R.105 at MP 45(west of Aberdeen)

Osprey
1 along Wakefield Rd. collecting nesting material

Am.Kestrel
1 pair along Foster Rd.(Brady Loop Rd. complex)

Virginia Rail(heard only)
2 at the Nisqually NWR
2 along Ocosta Third Street

Sora(heard only)
1 at the Nisqually NWR
2 along Ocosta Third Street

Black-bellied Plover
2 along Foster Rd.

Greater Yellowlegs
1 at the Nisqually NWR
135 for the Brady Loop Rd. complex
54 along Ocosta Third Street
3 along S.R.105 west of Aberdeen
3 at Bowerman Basin
15 along Wakefield Rd. near Elma

Western Sandpiper
15 at the Nisqually NWR
5 at Bottle Beach
4 along Ocosta Third Street

Least Sandpiper
12 along Foster Rd.
4 along Ocosta Third Street
1 at Bowerman Basin

Dunlin
28 at the Nisqually NWR
4 along Foster Rd.
450+ at Bottle Beach
55+ at Ocosta Third Street

Short-billed Dowitcher
5 along Foster Rd.
1 along Brady Loop Rd.
78 at Bottle Beach
200 along Ocosta Third Street
2 at Bowerman Basin

Long-billed Dowitcher
13 along Foster Rd.

Bonaparte's Gull
1 at Bottle Beach

Caspian Tern
18 at Bottle Beach
3 along the Hoquiam River at Aberdeen

Band-tailed Pigeon
5 along Keys. Rd. near Satsop
1 along S.R.8 east of McCleary

Hairy Woodpecker
1 along S.R.8 east of Elma

Western Scrub Jay
2 along Brady Loop Rd.
2 along Hwy.12 at Satsop

Orange-crowned Warbler
1 at the Nisqually NWR
1 along Wakefield Rd.

Yellow-rumped Warbler
28 at the Nisqually NWR

Purple Finch
2 along Wakefield Rd.
3 at the Johns River WA


Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
godwit at worldnet.att.net