Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I again birded the Ocean Shores area with our main highlight of the day,being a juvenile Stilt Sandpiper observed along the shoreline of Lake Minard (accessed along Marine View Drive bordering the large cement water tower across the road from the Oyhut Wildlife Area and west of Damon Point). The bird was observed at 3:45pm just before we were returning from checking the Oyhut Wildlife Area across the road and heard multiple Greater Yellowlegs calling in the near distance. As we were returning to our vehicle the calls became louder and closer to us until we realized they were coming from Lake Minard, an area we normally check every time we go to and from Damon Point. As we gained view of the north shoreline of the lake furthest away from us we noticed a small flock of "peeps" that we later identified as Western Sandpipers and 3 Greater yellowlegs that remained actively calling,as we scoped the birds until one noticeably smaller shorebird compared to the nearby Greater yellowlegs was noted and identified as a juvenile Stilt Sandpiper with all the major field marks observed,except the white rump,as the bird remained actively foraging in the water with it's legs totally submerged. The nearby Greater Yellowlegs were far less active,as the Stilt Sandpiper foraged around them along the immediate shoreline as we watched the bird for about 5 minutes then proceeded to finish our day at Ocean Shores. This was a exceptional sighting and one that was not expected at Ocean Shores and if it wasn't for hearing the distant calls of the Greater Yellowlegs we would have never investigated the situation. The Stilt Sandpiper remained until we left the location at 3:50pm,but this was the first time we had observed any shorebirds at that exact location on Lake Minard despite minor available shoreline available along the extreme eastern edge of the lake, so it is unsure whether the bird would remain. This sighting was even more noteworthy since we had again scoured Ocean Shores mostly by foot at many locations in search of shorebirds such as species observed yesterday during the same route.

Overall shorebirds numbers today were very scattered and confined primarily of "peeps",which were most noteworthy from many locations that we visited with our largest flock that contained 4,500+ Western Sandpipers at Damon Point in 5-6 separate flocks between the Damon Point"pond" and the entrance to Damon Point at high tide. The birds swirled around and seemed agitated and nervous before eventually landing and finally resting along a sand spit just east from the main parking lot at Damon Point and also along the edges of the Damon Point"pond". It seemed that both Western and Least Sandpiper were in good number throughout Ocean Shores,as we looked thoroughly for larger shorebirds and the large "masses",specifically Black-bellied Plovers,Short-billed Dowitchers,etc. that we have observed along the ocean beaches in past weeks that again were not noted during the entire day with two visits made between Driftwood Drive and Marine View Drive beach access. Perhaps the masses have moved on or are foraging/resting at another undisclosed location ,perhaps within North Bay.

We also looked extensively for golden plovers at many locations that have or could host both species along with the Buff-breasted Sandpiper at Damon Point,but were unsuccessful in both attempts,so finding the Stilt Sandpiper near the end of the day made up for that in a way. We again encountered a total of 20 species of shorebirds for the day,including a single juvenile Semipalmated Sandpiper that flew in and landed on the Ocean Shores Jetty during a return walk back to the mainland,which was very noteworthy for that location,as it actively foraged alone among the barnacle-covered boulders along the south side of the jetty. The Ocean Shores Jetty probably produced the most noteworthy species away from the Stilt Sandpiper,although the Manx Shearwater was not observed during our morning visit to this location. A list of notable highlights observed at selected locations and times follows during the entire day:


Hoquiam River at Hoquiam 8:30am

1 Whimbrel


Hoquiam STP 8:40am-8:55am

1 Northern Pintail
4 Greater Scaup
1 Lesser Scaup
1 Bufflehead
2 Bonaparte's Gulls
2 Wilson's Warblers
1 Purple Finch


Ocean Shores STP 9:18am-9:25am

15 Northern Shovelers
2 Spotted Sandpipers
4 Least Sandpipers
1 Long-billed Dowitchers
3 Red-necked Phalaropes


Ocean Shores Jetty 9:30am-10:30am(incoming tide)

8 Pacific Loons
3 Common Loons
1500+ Sooty Shearwaters
48+ Brown Pelicans
20 Surf Scoters
7 Wandering Tattlers
1 Ruddy Turnstone
14 Black Turnstones
67 Surfbirds
1 Semipalmated Sandpiper
200+ Red-necked Phalaropes
1 light-morph adult Pomarine Jaeger
1 light-morph adult Parasitic Jaeger
210+ Heermann's Gulls
4 Common Terns


Oyhut Wildlife Area(accessed from behind the Ocean Shores STP with a walk made to Marine View Drive along the entire shoreline perimeter) 10:45am-11:50am

4 Common Loons
32 Brown Pelicans
210+ Double-crested Cormorants
1 female Black Scoter
9 Surf Scoters
1 Hooded Merganser
4 Common Mergansers
1 Northern Harrier
24 Semipalmated Plovers
50 Western Sandpipers
67 Least Sandpipers
2 Baird's Sandpipers
1 Dunlin
200+ Heermann's Gulls


Damon Point 12:15pm-2pm(incoming/outgoing tide)

3 Red-throated Loons
25 Brown Pelicans
1 Black-bellied Plovers
9 Semipalmated Plovers
1 Spotted Sandpiper
5 Sanderlings
4,500+ Western Sandpipers
125+ Least Sandpipers
2 Baird's Sandpipers
350+ Heermann's Gulls
1 "Streaked"Horned Lark


Ocean Shores STP 2:40pm-2:45pm(outgoing tide)

14 Northern Shovelers
2 Spotted Sandpipers
9 Western Sandpipers
16 Least Sandpipers
4 Red-necked Phalaropes


Oyhut Wildlife Area(accessed from Tonquin Ave.) 2:55pm-3:30pm

1 Northern Pintail
1 Spotted Sandpiper
140+ Western Sandpipers
25 Least Sandpipers
2 Short-billed Dowitchers


Oyhut Wildlife Area/cement water tower at Lake Minard(accessed along Marine View Drive) 3:35pm-3:50pm

3 Greater Yellowlegs
330+ Western Sandpipers
15 Least Sandpipers
1 Stilt Sandpiper


Bill's Spit 4pm-4:10pm

60+ Western Sandpipers
18 Ring-billed Gulls
300+ California Gulls
9 Caspian Terns
1 Red Crossbill


Cyber Lake(accessed from the North Beach Junior and Senior High School along S.R.115 north of Ocean Shores) 4:25pm-4:35pm

9 Greater Yellowlegs


In addition 3 separate Western Scrub Jay sightings were noted to and from destinations including the following:

1 along Hwy.12 at Elma
1 along Hwy.12 at Satsop
1 along Sumner Ave. at Hoquiam



Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
godwit at worldnet.att.net