After ruminating over various trip scenarios to see
the Pink-footed Goose, I decided to make a loop from
Ocean Shores to Julia-Butler and return back through
the gorge. Primary targets were: Pink-footed Goose,
Bushtit, Rock Sandpiper, Palm Warbler, Green Heron,
White-tailed Kite, Black Phoebe, Red-shouldered Hawk,
and Acorn Woodpecker.
Since we had a very tight schedule, we didn't have
much time to spend looking for any one species.

Taking advantage of a window of nice weather between
storms, Matthew Moskwik and I left Spokane on Thursday
morning (12/18/03) and headed west. Although the skies
were clear, we had some patchy freezing fog in the
eastern Washington, but the west side was almost
balmy.

Since daylight hours are at such a premium this time
of year, I decided to skip the city parks of Seattle
where Bushtit is nearly a gimme. Instead, we made a
quick stop on Nisqually NWR. Although we saw plenty of
RC Kinglets, and some Dusky Canada Geese we dipped on
Bushtit.

After traversing the seemingly endless
Aberdeen-Hoquiam route, we parked at the end of K
Street. Within a few minutes, we had picked out the
famous pair of PINK-FOOTED GEESE accompanied by a pair
of White-fronted Geese. We had excellent light and
viewing conditions and were most pleased with this
sighting.

Upon entering Ocean Shores, we decided to make an
attempt for Rock Sandpipers on the jetty. However, we
could not turn up any shorebirds in the waning light.

At first light on Friday morning (12/19/03), we were
searching for Green Heron and Palm Warbler around the
marina near the junction of Pt. Brown/Discovery
Ave./Marine Drive. Numerous RC & GC Kinglets, and some
House Finches were hunkered down in the shrubbery
trying to avoid the blustery wind.
We heard a warbler chipping that sounded like our
target Palm Warbler, but we couldn't pish it up. After
walking down Catala Dr. a bit, a flock of BUSHTITS
(new state bird for me) came by to greet us.

Since we didn't hear the warbler chipping any longer,
we drove out to the jetty. While heavy surf was
crashing over the jetty in an impressive manner, a
flock of rock shorebirds flew out to near the point.
Fortunately, the crashing waves drove the birds back
into the near corner on the lee side. As a result of
this good fortune, we had crippling views of five ROCK
SANDPIPERS (lifer for Matthew) in the middle of a
flock of Black Turnstones.

After enjoying the sight of the Rock Sandpipers, we
returned to the Scotch Broom thicket around the
marina. Since the wind had calmed down quite a bit,
the birds were more active. A large flock of
Golden-crowned Sparrows and a couple of Bewick's Wrens
were feeding on the ground. Kinglets of both species
were popping up everywhere around us.

Finally, we heard the warbler chipping again. We
briefly saw a Palm Warbler (lifer for Matthew & state
bird for me) perched in the top of shrubbery. After we
had a couple of other brief glimpses of the bird, we
eventually were rewarded with excellent views of two
PALM WARBERLS feeding along the edge of the clearing
immediately behind the No Trespassing sign. One bird
had somewhat brighter plumage with a nice rusty crown
and obvious yellow undertail coverts.

After a couple of hours drive down to Julia-Butler
NWR, we were immediately rewarded with a BLACK PHOEBE
(state bird for us) by the headquarters. Columbian
White-tailed Deer were grazing in the fields and a
large Nutria along the parking lot. On the first mile
of the loop road, we had a Northern Shrike and a
WHITE-TAILED KITE (lifer for Matthew & state bird for
me).

Due to time constraints, we didn't drive the rest of
the refuge loop and we had to skip our planned try for
Red-shouldered Hawk in Ridgefield NWR. Instead, we
decided to race out to the Acorn Woodpecker spot near
Lyle.In route, we saw a Red-Breasted Sapsucker near
Gray's River and W. Scrub Jay on the outskirts of
Longview. We held hopes of seeing this species before
dark. As we arrived at 4:00 PM, the clouds were
already darkening the skies Many Lewis' Woodpeckers
were seen along Balch Road, but we never saw any
Acorns fly into the granary tree. Apparently, the
Acorns don't roost in the tree and they had quit
storing acorns into by dusk.

For a long trip that was had only one overnight stay,
we managed to see seven out of nine species on our
target list. We packed in a lot fun and good birds is
short time.

Gina Sheridan
Spokane, WA

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