Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I birded the southern portion of the Grays Harbor route from the Bottle Beach area south to Tokeland with far better weather conditions that yesterday at Ocean Shores,which made birding much better. Overall conditions were much slower along this route,but we located a few shorebird highlights for the day. We visited Midway Beach Rd. and two large blue signs indicating Snowy Plover nesting have been put up at the end of the road to inform possible beach drivers,etc of the presence of Snowy Plovers and only to drive on the harder,wet,more well packed sand and NOT in the dryer,sandy areas in which the Snowy Plovers may or can breed in. Perhaps these signs will be taken down after the nesting season,but that they may deter any unauthorized driving at this location throughout the year.

We arrived at Bottle Beach during incoming tide for the best possibility for shorebirds,but activity was very slow although a few species were noted as well as at nearby Ocosta Third Street which we visited twice during the day that produced our best highlight of the day,being a Semipalmated Sandpiper that we located on our return visit at 3:45pm. The bird was observed foraging amongst 4 darker,browner adult Least Sandpipers making the Semipalmated Sandpiper easy to separate by it's overall much paler plumage and separating structural characteristics. The bird was noted in the large flooded area near the end of Ocosta Third Street before you rise onto a hill(accessed along the east side of Ocosta Third Street). This was our first personal record of this species at this location,although we have observed single birds at nearby Bottle Beach in past years during fall migration with one spring record that we observed along S.R.105 near the Johns River Wildlife Area on the 18th of May,2002.Typically this species is thought of as quite rare along the immediate coast occurring far less more frequently than in inland locations such as Crockett Lake on Whidbey Island or other northern Puget Sound locations with very few sightings further south,but they do occur,being normally of single birds.

Our day began with a single male Yellow-headed Blackbird observed along I-5 immediately north of the Nisqually River in Pierce County perched in a deciduous tree close to the interstate in a large,open field. We continued on our way to Bottle Beach,as we searched for shorebirds then continued on our day. The following additional notable species are listed from the following locations:

Sooty Shearwater
very good numbers observed off Midway Beach Rd. with birds observed flying to the north and to the south

Brown Pelican
65+ off Bottle Beach Rd.
7 off Midway Beach Rd.
3 along S.R.105 at North Cove,Pacific Co.

Wood Duck
1 female with 3 young along Ocosta Third Street

Northern Shoveler
1 female along Ocosta Third Street

Northern Harrier
1 along S.R.105(west of Bay City)

Am.Kestrel
1 along Hwy.12 at Elma

Snowy Plover
1 adult male at Midway Beach Rd.

Greater Yellowlegs
3 along Ocosta Third Street

Willet
5 at Tokeland

Whimbrel
7 at Bottle Beach
195 at Tokeland

Marbled Godwit
4 at Tokeland

Sanderling
7+ at Midway Beach Rd.

Western Sandpiper
120+ at Bottle Beach
70+ at Midway Beach Rd.

Least Sandpiper
7 at Ocosta Third Street
55+ at Bottle Beach

Short-billed Dowitcher
6 at Bottle Beach
108 at Tokeland

Long-billed Dowitcher
6 along Ocosta Third Street

Parasitic Jaeger
1 adult off Midway Beach Rd.

Olive-sided Flycatcher
1 singing bird at Tokeland

Willow Flycatcher
2 at Bottle Beach

"Streaked"Horned Lark
10 adults and 1 immature bird at Midway Beach Rd.

Western Scrub Jay
1 along Hwy.12 at Elma
1 along Hwy.12 at the Satsop River bridge

Hutton's Vireo
1 at Bottle Beach

Orange-crowned Warbler
2 at Bottle Beach

Purple Finch
4 at Bottle Beach

Red Crossbill
3 at Bottle Beach



Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
godwit at worldnet.att.net