Greetings everyone,
A wonderful long day on the coast chasing various rarities with Carol
Schulz. Not a single cloud the entire day. We started at Hoquiam sort of
looking for the geese, but they weren't seen in the morning at the airport.
So we moved on to the K Street fields where geese are known to forage during
the day. I saw the pair of PINK-FOOTEDS at 11:10am in the back of a large
goose flock, acting as wild as can be. These are an intriguing find; I'm
not at all sure what to think of them. We continued south from there,
taking a detour down to South Bend, then back up to Tokeland marina where
the TROPICAL KINGBIRD was most active, but the HudWit wasn't present. After
the tide went out a bit more, at around 3:30pm we had distant but
distinctive views of the first basic HUDSONIAN GODWIT with several hundred
Marbled at the location mentioned by Mike Denny in yesterday's post (mile
post 13 +.2 along Hwy 105 northeast of Tokeland). Then we made our way
further north, and made our last stop at the Westport Jetty at sunset (hard
viewing, but a great experience nonetheless).

Thursday, 6 November 2003 (7:00am to 5:10pm).
Grays Harbor & Pacific County - 109 species (not inc. PFGO)
Clear all day; E 10-15 mph; 28-52 F.

Hoquiam STP/Bowerman Airstrip/Basin (9:00-10:45am)
Snow Goose (3: 1 juv, 2ad.)
Canada Goose (200 assorted ssp.)
Eurasian Wigeon (4: 3m., 1f.)
American Wigeon (300)
Canvasback (50+)
Redhead (1m.)
Surf Scoter (2: 1m., 1f.)-at STP.
Common Goldeneye (15f.)
Hooded Merganser (6)
Ruddy Duck (20)
Eared Grebe (1)
Northern Harrier (3)
Rough-legged Hawk (1 ad. female)
Merlin (1 juv. male captured Dunlin and consumed it on boardwalk)
Peregrine Falcon (2: 1 ad., 1 juv.)
Western Sandpiper (400)
Least Sandpiper (30)
Dunlin (1800)
Wilson's Snipe (1)
Golden-crowned Kinglet (5)
Lincoln's Sparrow (2)

K Street fields (11:10-11:30)
Pink-footed Goose (2)
Canada Goose (150)
Sharp-shinned Hawk (1)
Northern Flicker (1 intergrade)
Horned Lark (1 strigata)
Fox Sparrow (4)
Golden-crowned Sparrow (12)
Western Meadowlark (5)

South Bend field along Hwy 101 (12:20-12:35pm)
Greater White-fronted Goose (7)
Snow Goose (3ad.)
Canada Goose (120)
Northern Harrier (2)
Rough-legged Hawk (1 juv. male)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (2)
Savannah Sparrow (10)
Purple Finch (1)

Graveyard Spit (1:15-1:25)
Black-bellied Plover (36)
Semipalmated Plover (9)
Whimbrel (1)
Long-billed Curlew (47)
Western Sandpiper (5)
Dunlin (800)
Heermann's Gull (3)
Mew Gull (250)
California Gull (150)
Herring Gull (1ad.)
Thayer's Gull (1 juv.)

Tokeland Marina (1:30-2:45)
Horned Grebe (1)
Willet (4)
Whimbrel (5)
Long-billed Curlew (4)
Marbled Godwit (25)
Least Sandpiper (10)
Dunlin (300)
Long-billed Dowitcher (12)
Tropical Kingbird (1)

Willapa Bay/MP 13.2 on Hwy 105 (3:10-3:30)
Trumpeter Swan (5)
American Wigeon (300)
Green-winged Teal (125)
Black-bellied Plover (1)
Greater Yellowlegs (13)
Long-billed Curlew (2)
Hudsonian Godwit (1-1W)
Marbled Godwit (260 +/-)
Bonaparte's Gull (3)

Westport Jetty/Westhaven State Park (4:15-5:00)
Surf Scoter (120 south)
Red-throated Loon (3 north)
Pacific Loon (15 north)
Western Grebe (12 on water)
Northern Fulmar (800+)- >2 miles out; mainly feeding, some south.
Sooty/Short-tailed Shearwater (7)
Brown Pelican (8)
Double-crested Cormorant (50 most migrating)
Pelagic Cormorant (70 most flying north)
Sanderling (10)
Black Turnstone (30+)
Surfbird (11)
Rock Sandpiper (5)
Bonaparte's Gull (900 traveling south)
Heermann's Gull (25)
California Gull (1000+)
Black-legged Kittiwake (4 on jetty)
Common Murre (48 flying south)

field along Hwy 105 west of Brady's Oysters (5:15)
Great Egret (1)

A last highlight of the day was seeing a spectacular Green Flash from
Westport, just as the sun sunk below the horizon at 4:53. The conditions
were optimal with the onshore winds and no haze or anything.

It isn't often that you see 18 species of shorebird on a chilly November
day.

Cheers and good birding,
--
Charlie Wright
Sumner, WA
charlie at birdwright.com