Natalie and I left home around 7 a.m. this morning to meet with Rolan
Nelson in Purdy for a full day of birding along the northern edges of the
Olympic Peninsula. Our agenda was to bird in Sequim at the Three Crabs
Restaurant along Dungeness Bay, to head west through Port Angeles to bird
at the Salt Creek Recreation Area and Crescent Beach, then to drive into
Olympic National Park along the Elwha River, and time allowing to squeeze
in a stop at the John Wayne Marina on our way back toward Tacoma.

The biggest highlight, as Rolan noted in an earlier mail, it was a great
day for ducks. We had all of the sea ducks and by Rolan's count 17 duck
species in all, and it was great to see "Stumpy" the Emperor Goose is
still present at Lincoln Park in Port Angeles. I hadn't read anything
about him on Tweeters since August, 2002. I am also starting to think
that John Wayne Marina is a fairly reliable place to see Black
Oystercatcher during mid and low tides, especially around sunset. Prior
to seeing three oystercatchers this evening, Natalie and I saw two
oystercatchers in the same location and under the same conditions on
March 2, 2002.

By my count we came away with 58 species along our 286 mile route. Here
are the nitty gritty details -

Sequim Bay near Jamestown:
- Great Blue Heron
- Common Raven
- American Crow
- Mourning Dove
- Rock Dove
- Goldeneye sp.
- Lesser Scaup

Sequim and Three Crabs area:
- Red-tailed Hawk being hassled by two crows as we entered town, another
balancing on a power line alongside the road out to the town of Dungeness
- European Starling
- Bald Eagles (2)
- American Wigeon (20)
- Eurasian Wigeon
- Brandt
- Western Gull
- Glaucous-winged Gull
- Mew Gull
- Northern Pintail
- Black Scoter
- Song Sparrow (3)
- Common Goldeneye
- Bufflehead
- Northern Flicker
- Great Blue Heron
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Mallard

Dungeness Recreation Area:
- American Kestrel
- Golden-crowned Sparrow
- Spotted Towhee
- Song Sparrow
- American Robin
- Mourning Dove

Port Angeles (Hollywood Beach):
- House Sparrow
- Bufflehead
- Black Scoter
- Surf Scoter (4)
- White-winged Scoter
- Horned Grebe
- American Wigeon
- Long-tailed Duck
- Rock Dove

Ediz Hook:
- Barrow's Goldeneye
- Brandt's Cormorant
- Pelagic Cormorant
- Red-throated Loon
- Red-breasted Merganser
- Belted Kingfisher
- Pigeon Guillemot
- Sanderling (8)
- Black Turnstones (8)
- Dunlin

Lincoln Park in Port Angeles:
- Canada Goose (20, 4 were Dusky sub-species)
- American Wigeon (50)
- Eurasian Wigeon (2)
- Bufflehead
- Mallard
- Northern Shoveler
- American Coot (4)
- Emperor Goose
- Glaucous-winged Gull
- Mew Gull

Salt Creek Recreation Area and Crescent Beach: (Turn north from Hwy. 112
on Camp Hayden Road...48 deg, 09.899 N, 123 deg, 41.873 W, 42 feet elevation)
- Steller's Jay
- Surf Scoter
- Double-crested Cormorant
- Pelagic Cormorant
- Pigeon Guillemot
- Harlequin Duck (5)
- Western Grebe
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet (15)
- American Robin (40)
- American Crow
- Song Sparrow
- Fox Sparrow
- Bonaparte's Gull (4)
- Kingfisher
- Bufflehead
- Mallard

Elwha River area: (48 deg, 00.591 N, 123 deg, 35.462 W, 523 feet
elevation at the last bridge over the Elwha River)
- Varied Thrush
- kinglet sp.
- American Robin
- Dark-eyed Junco

John Wayne Marina: (48 deg, 03.740 N; 123 deg, 03.001 W, 15 feet elevation)
- Common Murre
- Pigeon Guillemot
- Black Oystercatcher (3)
- Barrow's Goldeneye
- Common Goldeneye
- White-winged Scoter
- Surf Scoter
- American Wigeon
- Glaucous-winged Gull
- Horned Grebe
- Long-tailed Duck (8)
- Bufflehead
- Hooded Merganser (1 male, 2 females)
- Great Blue Heron (5)

Rob McNair-Huff ---------- mailto:rob at whiterabbits.com
White Rabbit Publishing -- http://www.whiterabbits.com/
Mac Net Journal ---------- http://www.macnetjournal.com/
The Equinox Project ------ http://www.whiterabbits.com/weblog.html