Yesterday I was in the far northwest corner for the Olympic Beaches cleanup.
The high point of the day was a Great Egret on the Waatch River about 5 p.m.
I've never seen one along there or so far north.

On the drive out, between 8 and 9 a.m. we saw 5 Bald Eagles and one Turkey
Vulture between Sekiu and Chito Beach. Along the Waatch River there was one
American Wigeon drake, a couple of pairs of Mallards, one Blue Heron, one
pair of Canada Geese, one male Northern Harrier, and a number of Red-winged
Blackbirds.

After the work party on Sooes Beach I wandered across the road to watch the
activity in a half-dead conifer. It held one Orange-crowned Warbler and a
number of Yellow-crowned and White-crowned Sparrows. Another Bald Eagle was
soaring over the inland fields. We watched a Common Loon on the Sooes
River.

>From the Cape Flattery trail overlook we saw two more Bald Eagles out on
Tatoosh Island, many Pelagic and Double-Crested Cormorants, Western and
Glaucus-winged Gulls, two Black Oystercatchers, one Rhinoceros Auklet,
several Pigeon Guillemots, and a raft of Common Murres, possible 300+.
floating along the southeast side of Tatoosh. More kept flying southwest
through the passage and joining the raft. No sign of whales or sea lions.
Driving back off the Cape we kept seeing lots of Robins but never any Varied
Thrush.

Heading back into Neah Bay on a back road near the Waatch we saw more
Red-winged Blackbirds, Savannah and White-crowned Sparrows, and one Osprey.

At the mouth of Village Creek (west side of Neah Bay) there were one Brant
Goose, one pair of Gadwall, Dunlins, Sanderlings, Black Turnstones,
Glaucus-winged Gulls, and Barn and Violet-Green Swallows overhead. Further
out on Neah Bay were Common Loons, Western and Red-necked Grebes, Pelagic
Cormorants, American Wigeons, Scaups, Buffleheads, Surf and White-winged
Scoters, one Readhead drake, and a number of California sea lions. Outside
the jetty on the Strait were Crows, one Belted Kingfisher, a number of
Harlequins, Double-crested Cormorants, and another raft of hundreds of
possibly Surf Scoters, but I couldn't be sure due to distance and light.

Carol Riddell
Edmonds
cariddell at mac.com