Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I birded from Wenzel Slough Rd. to Ocean Shores with several notable species that were encountered, beginning with a flock of 39 Sandhill Cranes observed at 10:30am in a large stubble field west of the intersection of Foster and Brady Loop Rds. We also observed the Pink-footed Goose loosely associating with 2 Greater White-fronted Geese and 48 Canada Geese in a large grassy field along the eastern side of Foster Rd. At Ocean Shores we located a single adult male Snowy Plover at the western portion of the Oyhut Wildlife Area(accessed behind the Ocean Shores STP)along with a nearby male Eurasian Wigeon foraging amongst Am.Wigeons and Mallards in a flooded portion of a Salicornia field. Our visit to Bill's Spit produced 4 Caspian Terns amongst a flock of gulls that also hosted 6 Herring Gulls, 2 alternate plumaged Black-bellied Plovers, 1 Marbled Godwit, and 2 Dunlin. On our way home our last main highlight of the day was the lingering adult Loggerhead Shrike easily observed in various bramble patches at 4pm along Wenzel Slough Rd. at the previously listed location as posted in past Tweeters postings. We checked this location earlier in the day en route to Brady Loop Rd. but were unable to locate the bird and it was probably resting in a bramble patch,etc.,as the bird seems to be far more elusive than our initial observation.

Overall birding was still quite slow during the entire day,but some areas hosted more species than others. A list of additional noteworthy species encountered during the day at selected locations include the following:

Turkey Vulture
6 along Wenzel Slough Rd.
10 along Brady Loop Rd.
3 along S.R.109 near Bowerman Basin
1 along S.R.109 at Burrows Rd. just north of the Humptulips River
7 observed flying over Bowerman Basin
2 at Hoquiam
3 along Hwy.12 east of Aberdeen

Osprey
1 pair at a nestsite observed along Wenzel Slough Rd.
1 along Hwy.12 at Montesano

Rough-legged Hawk
1 lingering bird along the western portion of Brady Loop Rd.

Am.Kestrel
3 along Brady Loop Rd.

Merlin
1 along S.R.109 north of Grays Gables

Sora
1 heard calling along Wenzel Slough Rd.

Greater Yellowlegs
2 along Brady Loop Rd.

Least Sandpiper
12 at the Oyhut Wildlife Area(Ocean Shores)

Dunlin
20 at the Ocean Shores Jetty
4 at the Oyhut Wildlife Area(including 1 alternate-plumaged bird)
2 at Bill's Spit

Wilson's Snipe
12+ along Wenzel Slough Rd.

Bonaparte's Gull
4 at the Oyhut Wildlife Area

Black-legged Kittiwake
130+ off the Ocean Shores Jetty

Marbled Murrelet
4 off the Ocean Shores Jetty

Band-tailed Pigeon
25 along Wenzel Slough Rd.

Red-breasted Sapsucker
1 along Hwy.8 at Summit Lake,Thurston Co.(TH)
1 along Hwy.101 near Black Lake,TH

Western Scrub Jay
2 along Brady Loop Rd.

Common Yellowthroat
4 along Wenzel Slough Rd.
2 along Foster Rd.(Brady Loop Rd.)



Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
Tacoma,WA
godwit at worldnet.att.net