Greetings birders,
I just returned from leading a 4-day tour of western Pacific County, WA. One
of those days was spent on the ocean, where, among other birds, we enjoyed
excellent looks of a WILSON'S STORM-PETREL (as you may have already heard).
While this was the most celebrated bird of the trip, we had a number of
other enjoyable sightings.

MIGRANT VOID
The strangest thing we encountered all weekend was the near absence of
warblers (or other migrants) anywhere from Fort Canby to Leadbetter Point,
and out to Ft. Columbia. We found a total of ONE migrant warbler all
weekend, a female TOWNSEND'S WARBLER in the lighthouse parking lot at Ft.
Canby. We couldn't even find a butter-butt! And beyond the warblers, we only
found ONE RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET, 1 small flock of DARK-EYED JUNCOS, 2
SWAINSON'S THRUSHES, 2 FOX SPARROWS, and 2 WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS. For
mid-September, this seemed truly bizarre. If anyone can shed some light on
the subject, I'd be most appreciative.

UNUSUAL BIRDS
We did find a handful of birds that we did not expect, including a GREAT
EGRET near the Coast Guard Station, seen first from Ilwaco Harbor and then
from the boat on our way out to sea. We also found a BLUE-WINGED TEAL at the
largest pond inside the Ft. Canby Campground. A breeding-plumaged
RED-THROATED LOON was beyond the surf west of Baird's Hollow, and a small
flock of NORTHERN SHOVELERS was seen flying south from the same location.

SHOREBIRDS
Our shorebird list was similar to that reported by John Williams from
Saturday. While we also missed both Golden-Plover spp., we found the numbers
of most species to be pleasantly high. We did most of our shorebirding on
Thursday afternoon at Leadbetter Point. On the ocean side of the point, just
north of where the Yellow Trail hits the beach, we enjoyed a collection of
at least 2,000 shorebirds, consisting mostly of SANDERLINGS, BLACK-BELLIED
PLOVERS, and WESTERN SANDPIPERS, with lesser numbers of SEMIPALMATED
PLOVERS, and a couple each of SNOWY PLOVERS and BLACK TURNSTONES. On our
return walk, the bay side of the point produced 5 RED KNOTS and 4 MARBLED
GODWITS, among more of the species above.

PELAGICS
We were able to watch SOOTY SHEARWATERS from the beach in a number of
locations, but the viewing was better from the boat! We shared excellent
looks at all the "tubenoses" we found, with special pleasure taken from
BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSSES and BULLER'S SHEARWATERS coming very close to the
boat. Alcids were very thin, with only two species found to my recollection:
plenty of COMMON MURRES and a handful of RHINOCEROUS AUKLETS. We also added
a couple shorebirds to our tally, including a single RED PHALAROPE, and
SURFBIRDS among the other "rock-pipers" along the jetties and below Cape
Disappointment.

SUMMARY
In four days of birding, we tallied just over 100 species (101), with 17
SHOREBIRDS and 9 LARIDS (including a PARASITIC JAEGER between the jetties
that literally crossed the state line while we watched!). We had lots of fun
with the abundance of resident species, especially GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET,
WINTER WREN, and both CHICKADEES. The weather was fantastic and the food was
better than that. We'll be back next year!

Happy fall migration,
Steve Shunk

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Stephen Shunk
Paradise Birding
http://www.paradisebirding.com

"Exploring Nature in Your Backyard ... and Beyond"

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