Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I birded the general Ocean Shores area in Grays Harbor Co. with fairly slow birding conditions,but a few noteworthy sightings were located. We encountered relatively good weather at Ocean Shores and surrounding areas,but driving to and from destinations was very wet. We located the 2 Pink-footed Geese during our brief visit to the large,open fields at the south end of "K" Street in Hoquiam at 11:30am that were again observed with 2 Greater White-fronted Geese,as in past visits. We then checked the Hoquiam STP at 11:45am,which produced a few notable highlights before we headed towards Ocean Shores. A single Greater Yellowlegs was observed along S.R.109 at MP 7.5 in a flooded cow pasture near Grays Gables,then an extensive check along Burrows Road produced a fairly large shorebird flock at the mouth of the Humptulips River that contained 54 Black-bellied Plovers and 500+ Dunlin,as they frantically looked for any available land due to high water conditions. We arrived at Ocean Shores at 12:30pm,where we remained until 3pm checking several locations including the Ocean Shores Jetty,Damon Point,the Oyhut Wildlife Area, and Bill's Spit among a few other minor areas. Our main highlight that we encountered at Ocean Shores was a single Long-billed Curlew at Bill's Spit at 3pm,which was our last stop of the day. Due to high water conditions noted at most locations such as the Oyhut Wildlife Area and Damon Point shorebird numbers were very localized,which were primarily observed at Oyhut Wildlife Area(accessed behind the Ocean Shores STP). We observed a single adult Peregrine Falcon pursue and capture a male Lesser Scaup at the Ocean Shores STP,then as we approached cautiously closer it lifted off the duck and flew overhead several times while actively calling loudly,before dropping back down to the duck and consuming it. Our visit to the Ocean Shores Jetty was fairly productive,despite increasing windy conditions during our visit,which produced up to 10+ dark-morph Northern Fulmars flying 20-25 yards offshore along with a single Short-tailed Shearwater, and 7+ Black-legged Kittiwakes. We were only able to locate 1 Rock Sandpiper(of the dominant race) at the Ocean Shores Jetty that was noted amongst a flock of 32 Black Turnstones resting atop the jetty immediately south of the main parking lot. A list of additional highlights noted at Ocean Shores and from the Hoquiam STP include the following:

Red-throated Loon
1 off the Ocean Shores Jetty

Eared Grebe
3 at Lake Minard(observed behind the large cement water tower along Marine View Drive north of the Oyhut Wildlife Area)

Greater White-fronted Goose
1 at the Ocean Shores STP

"Dusky"Canada Goose
15 at the Ocean Shores Golf Course(with a single "Aleutian" Canada Goose)

Eurasian Wigeon
1 pair at Lake Minard(Ocean Shores)

Canvasback
78 at the Hoquiam STP

Redhead
1 male at the Hoquiam STP

Black Scoter
14 at the Oyhut Wildlife Area

Hooded Merganser
10 at the Hoquiam STP
14 at Lake Minard(Ocean Shores)

Ruddy Duck
8 at the Hoquiam STP

Rough-legged Hawk
2 at the Hoquiam STP

Merlin
1 along Pt. Brown Ave.south of the Ocean Shores Golf Course
1 at Damon Point(consuming recent prey)
1 near North Bay Public Park(north of Bill's Spit at Ocean Shores)

Peregrine Falcon
1 adult at the Ocean Shores STP
1 at Damon Point

Ring-necked Pheasant
1 male along Marine View Drive(west of Tonquin Ave. at Ocean Shores)

Black Turnstone
32 at the Ocean Shores Jetty
5 at the Oyhut Wildlife Area(accessed behind the Ocean Shores STP)

Sanderling
18 at the Oyhut Wildlife Area

Western Sandpiper
60+ at the Oyhut Wildlife Area

Least Sandpiper
35+ at the Oyhut Wildlife Area

Dunlin
850+ at the Oyhut Wildlife Area
50 at Damon Point

Herring Gull
6 at Damon Point
1 at the Ocean Shores Marina

Black-legged Kittiwake
7+ off the Ocean Shores Jetty
3 at the Oyhut Wildlife Area(including one bird flying at close range with red fishing line tangled in it's foot)

Anna's Hummingbird
1 pair near Bill's Spit

Bushtit
35 near Bill's Spit

Yellow-rumped"Myrtle" Warbler
15 near Bill's Spit(with additional small numbers noted at other Ocean Shores locations)


On route to Hoquiam this morning we observed the following species:

swan species
80+ along Hwy.12 east of Satsop

Red-breasted Sapsucker
1 along Hwy.8 east of Montesano

Western Scrub Jay
2 along Hwy.12 at Elma
1 along hwy.12 at Brady



Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
godwit at worldnet.att.net