Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I had a very rewarding day birding and weather wise at several coastal locations compared to yesterday that included several key highlights during our route between Bowerman Basin to Raymond. Our main highlight of the day was a single Cattle Egret observed along S.R.105 immediately north of Smith-Anderson Rd, at North Cove in Pacific Co.(north of Tokeland). We observed and photographed the bird at 2:45pm after we learned about the sighting from Marcus Roening upon our arrival at Midway Beach Rd.,who originally located the bird previously during the day. We located the bird immediately upon our arrival along S.R.105,as the bird foraged alone in a portion of a larger portion of a large cow pasture that hosts several cows that are more hidden from the highway. We observed the bird well for 5 minutes until the bird flew to the west and landed in the more concealed portion of the cow pasture,which is primarily hidden from the highway by a row of brush and trees,but can be viewed from the western portion of Smith-Anderson Rd,which is blocked to an extent. This is an exceptional coastal sighting for this species and thanks again to Marcus for informing it to us along with the Palm Warbler that he located near the end of Midway Beach Rd. in an extensive Scot's Broom thicket north of the restroom. The bird was again located soon after we arrived back from viewing the Cattle Egret at 3:05pm amongst a fairly large flock of Yellow-rumped"Myrtle"Warblers and Ruby-crowned Kinglets,but was only viewed briefly foraging alone in fairly dense stands of Scot's Broom and was not relocated upon further searching. Despite only having nearly a half day of birding we enjoyed visiting all the locations,beginning with our first good bird of the day,which was a single immature Northern Goshawk observed along Hwy.12(just east of the Montesano Exit)flying with a single adult Bald Eagle and a single adult Red-tailed Hawk. The bird was initially identified as an accipiter species until we pulled over briefly along the shoulder to get a better look,as the bird circled overhead with the other 2 raptors and was clearly separated by any other similar species. A nice species to begin the day,as we continued on to Bowerman Basin,where we arrived at 12:45pm and didn't encounter any birders during our entire visit until 2pm. We checked the main areas that hosted Canada Geese,but due to recent activities at the Bowerman Basin/Hoquiam Airport NO geese were present,except at the extreme eastern portion of the airfield and the largest concentration observed along the entire perimeter of the northern portion of Bowerman Basin. Large numbers of Canada Geese were observed swimming and foraging along the vegetated shoreline with many concealed in the vegetation north of Lana's Cafe. We did not locate the Pink-footed Geese again today,but there is still much habitat and areas the 2 birds may occur. The 3 lingering Snow Geese were observed at this location,as well as 3 Eurasian Wigeon(with a single Eurasian/American Wigeon intergrade noted). We also thoroughly scoped through the large numbers of waterfowl at the Hoquiam STP,which produced up to 6 Redheads(including 3 males and 3 females,which was a personal high count for Grays Harbor Co.)

We continued on our way to Midway Beach Rd. and briefly checked the open,grassy field at the south end of K Street in Hoquiam that hosted only 4 Canada Geese and a single Wilson's Snipe. The remainder of our day continued at Midway Beach Rd. at 2:35pm,3:30pm-3:50pm, then Tokeland at 4pm and our last 2 stops of the day included the Raymond(Willapa Bay)Airport and the Raymond STP that are both accessed along S.R.105 west of Raymond. Our visit to Tokeland was very worthwhile with both the Tropical Kingbird and the Hudsonian Godwit that were nearly immediately located upon our arrival to the Tokeland Marina at 4pm along with several other birders that enjoyed great views of both and other nearby species.The Tropical Kingbird was first located perched along a telephone wire as we were driving along Kindred Ave. approaching the Tokeland Marina,where it remained during our entire visit. The Hudsonian Godwit was observed actively foraging south of the marina amongst the large flock of Marbled Godwits along the partially exposed mudflats during outgoing tide,where it also remained during our entire visit along with a 6 other species of shorebirds. On our way home we stopped by the Raymond Airport,where a single immature White-tailed Kite was observed hunting over the main portion of the grassy airfield upon our arrival at 4:45pm,then at the Raymond STP a single male Redhead was noted amongst 7 Lesser Scaups and several Northern Shovelers and 3 Buffleheads with our last 2 species of the day,being 2 Spotted Sandpipers and 8 Least Sandpipers.


Additional highlights noted during the day included:


Pacific Loon
30+ off Midway Beach Rd.

Red-necked Grebe
17 at Tokeland(Willapa Bay)

Trumpeter Swan
5 at MP 16 along S.R.105(Cedar River)

Northern Harrier
1 at Bowerman Basin
1 at K Street(Hoquiam)
1 at Midway Beach Rd.

Peregrine Falcon
1 adult at the Hoquiam STP
1 adult along Larkin Rd.(east of S.R.105 at North Cove)

Ring-necked Pheasant
1 pair at Midway Beach Rd.

Black-bellied Plover
1 at the Tokeland Marina

Willet
13 at the Tokeland Marina

Whimbrel
3 at the Tokeland Marina

Long-billed Dowitcher
13 at the Tokeland Marina

"Streaked"Horned Lark
24 at Midway Beach Rd.

Western Scrub Jay
1 along Hwy.12 east of Brady

Hermit Thrush
1 at Midway Beach Rd.

Northern Shrike
1 at Midway Beach Rd.

Savannah Sparrow
1 at Midway Beach Rd.

Lapland Longspur
3 at Midway Beach Rd.

Western Meadowlark
1 along Hwy.12 at Satsop
1 at Midway Beach Rd.


Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
godwit at worldnet.att.net