Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I spent the afternoon birding the Ocean Shores area,despite very slow shorebirding and very foggy conditions,specifically at Ocean Shores. Our main highlight of the day was a juvenile Ruff that was observed at the western portion of the Oyhut Wildlife Area(accessed behind the Ocean Shores STP). We observed the bird alone at 4:20pm during outgoing tide,as the bird was first observed flying in from the direction of Damon Point through an opening in the dense fog,as conditions began to slightly improve. We had just arrived back from a hike out onto the vast Salicornia fields north of the tall fluorescent orange navigation tower and observed the lone shorebird flying in towards us showing us the bird's distinctive U-shaped white rump,narrow white wingbar on the upper wing, and overall buffy-golden plumage,which were all observed as we were standing at the base of the trail just below the navigation tower. With the limited sunlight to our back we were able to identify the bird in flight as it lowered in elevation and finally landed within 20 feet of us on the partially exposed mudflats. The bird gave us excellent,but fairly brief views of bird within a 10 minute observation as the bird foraged until the bird lifted and flew straight up and into the low clouds/fog flying in a southerly direction out into Grays Harbor towards Westport. It seemed that the bird had just come in for us to see it then continue on its way south or perhaps it could still be in the Ocean Shores area or other coastal WA location south of Ocean Shores,or even perhaps most likely continue much further south. This was truly an exciting end to our day at Ocean Shores,although we did locate a few other highlights at Ocean Shores.

We checked several of the main locations at Ocean Shores,but overall conditions were very slow and the dense foggy conditions seemed to hinder our searching the majority of the time. We did manage to locate a few additional highlights such as up to 5 Lapland Longspurs amongst large flocks of Am.Pipits at the western portion of the Oyhut Wildlife Area,which were heard then seen as we walked through the fairly dense fields of Salicornia and other vegetation. Up to 16 juvenile Pacific Golden Plovers were observed roosting upon a hike out to the Damon Point"pond",as our last stop of the day after 5pm. A single Great Egret was noted at the Oyhut Wildlife area accessed from along Marine View Drive near immediately south of the large cement water tower at Lake Minard,which was observed foraging alone with several Great Blue Herons nearby. A list of other notable highlights observed in the Ocean Shores vicinity include the following:

Cyber Lake(accessed behind the North Beach Senior and Middle High School along S.R.115 north of Ocean Shores)

37 Greater Yellowlegs
3 Long-billed Dowitchers


Bill's Spit

1600+ California Gulls

Oyhut Wildlife Area(accessed along Marine View Drive)

1 Great Egret
1 Greater Yellowlegs
2 Western Sandpipers
34 Least Sandpipers
28 Am.Pipits
1 Yellow Warbler

Ocean Shores STP

28 Northern Shovelers
1 Lesser Scaup
4 Black Turnstones(somewhat notable for location)
14 Least Sandpipers
2 Short-billed Dowitchers
3 Am.Pipits

Oyhut Wildlife Area(accessed behind the Ocean Shores STP)

2 Pied-billed Grebes
20 Brown Pelicans
2 Northern Harriers
1 Red-tailed Hawk
1 Merlin
1 Semipalmated Plover
1 Ruff
90+ Am.Pipits
3 Yellow Warblers
8 Yellow-rumped Warblers
65+ Savannah Sparrows
2 "Sooty"Fox Sparrows
1 Lincoln's Sparrow
2 Golden-crowned Sparrows
5 Lapland Longspurs

Damon Point

35 Brown Pelicans
2 Greater Scaup
75+ Common Mergansers
1 Merlin(presumably the same individual noted at the Oyhut Wildlife Area due to similar plumage and flight behavior,in which the bird at this location pursued and eventually captured a Savannah Sparrow in flight before dropping to a large piece driftwood at the Damon Point"pond" and feeding on it's prey)
16 Pacific Golden Plovers
22 Least Sandpipers
340+ California Gulls
38+ Am.Pipits
3 Yellow-rumped Warblers
3 Golden-crowned Sparrows


We made a stop at the Hoquiam STP en route to Ocean Shores that produced a few additional species for our half day trip to Ocean Shores including the following:

2 Horned Grebes
1 Blue-winged Teal
4 Cinnamon Teal
26 Greater Scaup
3 Lesser Scaup
1 Bufflehead
1 Bonaparte's Gull
1 Western Scrub Jay
9 Am.Pipits
3 Yellow Warblers
28 Yellow-rumped Warblers
5"Sooty"Fox Sparrows
8 Lincoln's Sparrows

In addition single Western Scrub Jays were noted along Hwy.12 at Elma and at Brady en route to the Hoquiam STP.


Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
godwit at worldnet.att.net