Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I enjoyed a rewarding day shorebirding during incoming tide from Bottle Beach to Tokeland,as well as checking several other locations to and from destinations. Our main highlight of the day of several species was up to 6 Red Knots at Bottle Beach(which were all in alternate plumage amongst large numbers of Short-billed Dowitchers and other shorebird species). Our other shorebird highlight of the day began with a Solitary Sandpiper at the Nisqually NWR,which foraged alone in the flooded area north of the McAllister Creek trail from the main parking lot with a single Lesser Yellowlegs and up to 7 Greater Yellowlegs observed nearby. On our way home this afternoon we made a return visit along Brady Loop Rd.,where we located up to 21 Sandhill Cranes foraging in a large stubble field at the intersection of Foster and Brady Loop Rd.,which is the same location we observed 39 Sandhill Cranes on the 4th of April. Continuing along Foster Rd. we located the Pink-footed Goose and 1 Greater White-fronted Goose flying over then landing in an extensive wetland south of Foster Rd.,but we were unable to locate any large Canada Goose flocks in the area away from separate pairs of Canada Geese.

We began our day at the Nisqually NWR at 7am with a short walk made along the McAllister Creek trail with several noteworthy sightings to begin the day before we traveled to the Elma-Brady area,then continuing onto Bottle Beach for shorebirds during incoming tide between 9:15am-10:50am. We had great viewing of shorebirds at this location with locating 1 Red Knot almost immediately upon arriving to the open mudflats and as tide conditions decreased the shorebirds gathered closer to shore allowing even greater views of them. Good numbers of Common Loons and Red-breasted Mergansers were noted offshore along with several other species of waterbirds.We located 6 Red Knots feeding amongst good numbers of Short-billed Dowitchers and a few other species of shorebirds until we continued onto the Johns River WRA. We arrived at the Johns River WRA during a short,but fairly heavy rain shower as we walked to the green blind along the paved trail and scoped the extensive flooded area that produced several species of shorebirds,as well as various waterfowl and a herd of 44 Roosevelt Elk. We continued onto Tokeland for more shorebirds,which we located roosting at the Tokeland Marina and from the south end of Graveyard Spit in addition to a Gray Whale observed south of Tokeland in Willapa Bay. The latter portion of the day was quite slow until we arrived back to Brady Loop Rd. at 3pm ending the day with the 21 Sandhill Cranes and the Pink-footed Goose along Foster Rd, which were both not located during our morning visit. We checked for the Loggerhead Shrike along Wenzel Slough Rd. to and from destinations,but were unable to locate so it may have migrated on with the last posted sighting made on the 13th by Tim O'Brien.

A list of additional notable sightings observed during the day include the following at selected locations:

Greater White-fronted Goose
23 observed flying over Bottle Beach
1 along Foster Rd.(Brady Loop Rd. complex)

"Black"Brant
28 off Bottle Beach

Wood Duck
1 at the Nisqually NWR
8 at the Johns River WRA

Blue-winged Teal
1 male at the Nisqually NWR(presumably the same individual reported by Phil Kelley on the 15th)

Cinnamon Teal
3 at the Nisqually NWR
10 at the Johns River WRA

Turkey Vulture
2 along S.R.105 at Bottle Beach
2 along Hwy.12 west of Montesano(west of the Wynoochee River bridge)
4 along Hwy.8 east of Elma
1 along Hwy.8 east of Summit Lake

Osprey
1 nesting pair along Wenzel Slough Rd. near Satsop
1 along Hwy.12 at Montesano
3 along Wenzel Slough Rd. at Vance Creek Co. Park

Sharp-shinned Hawk
1 at the Johns River WRA

Cooper's Hawk
1 along S.R.105 south of Grayland

Am.Kestrel
3 within the Brady Loop Rd. complex

Merlin
1 at Bottle Beach

Virginia Rail
2 at the Nisqually NWR(heard only)
4 along Ocosta Third Street(heard only)

Sora
2 at the Nisqually NWR(heard only)

Black-bellied Plover
108 at Bottle Beach
1 at the Johns River WRA
1 at Tokeland

Semipalmated Plover
5 at Bottle Beach

Greater Yellowlegs
7 at the Nisqually NWR
12 along Foster Rd.
14 at the Johns River WRA
10 at Bottle Beach
3 along Ocosta Third Street

Willet
1 at Tokeland

Whimbrel
12 at Tokeland

Marbled Godwit
540+ at Tokeland

Sanderling
13 at Bottle Beach

Western Sandpiper
6 at the Nisqually NWR
228+ at Bottle Beach
4 at the Johns River WRA
11 at Tokeland

Least Sandpiper
47+ at the Nisqually NWR
38 at Bottle Beach
35 at the Johns River WRA

Dunlin
28 at the Nisqually NWR
2280+ at Bottle Beach
28 at the Johns River WRA
120+ at Tokeland
42 at Westport(Westhaven S.P.)

Short-billed Dowitcher
740+ at Bottle Beach
38 at the Johns River WRA
115+ at Tokeland

Long-billed Dowitcher
13 at the Johns River WRA

Wilson's Snipe
5 along Ocosta Third Street
22 at the Johns River WRA

Bonaparte's Gull
47 at Tokeland

Black-legged Kittiwakes
68+ at Tokeland
20 along S.R.105 at North Cove
50+ at Westport

Caspian Tern
6 at Bottle Beach
87+ at Tokeland
15 at Westport

Band-tailed Pigeon
210+ along the western portion of Wenzel Slough Rd.(in addition to nearby Keys Rd.)

Red-breasted Sapsucker
1 along Hwy.8 at Summit Lake(Thurston Co.)
1 along S.R.105 north of Grayland

Northern Rough-winged Swallow
1 pair along Ocosta Third Street

Western Scrub Jay
2 along Hwy.12 at Elma
1 along Hwy.12 at Satsop


Orange-crowned Warbler
2 at Bottle Beach
2 at Tokeland

Lincoln's Sparrow
3 at the Nisqually NWR

Golden-crowned Sparrow
14 at the Nisqually NWR
4 along Wenzel Slough Rd.
2 at Bottle Beach

Purple Finch
2 at Bottle Beach
4 at the Johns River WRA



Good birding,

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