Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I birded from the Nisqually NWR to Bottle Beach with many locations being very slow,but a few noteworthy sightings were observed. Our first species of the day was a single Solitary Sandpiper at 8:45am foraging with a single Greater Yellowlegs at the Nisqually NWR along the southern edge of the flooded area south of the McAllister Creek trail immediately west of the main parking lot. Continuing onto to the Elma-Brady area we located our first Wilson's Warbler of the season observed along the southern portion of Brady Loop Rd. and north of the Chehalis River at a location that has been good for passerines in past years. A single lingering Rough-legged Hawk was observed along the western portion of Brady Loop Rd.,which appears quite late in the season for the location and a pair of Black-bellied Plovers observed along the southern portion of Foster Rd. Next, we stopped and checked along the Chehalis River at Friends Landing south of Montesano that produced 3 Black-throated Gray Warblers. However, probably our most productive area of the day away from the Nisqually NWR was next at Bottle Beach and away from very large numbers of shorebirds at incoming tide we observed a "fallout" of Orange-crowned Warblers along the entire trail to Bottle Beach from S.R.105 during our visit between 3:20pm-4:40pm. We observed approximately 65+ Orange-crowned Warblers foraging on the ground, as well as in dense stands of Salmonberry and other vegetation and trees,which was our first personal "fallout" of any warbler species in western WA away from typical Yellow-rumped Warblers. The highest concentrations of Orange-crowned Warblers were noted between 3:30pm-3:45pm,as the latter portion of our visit was made watching foraging shorebirds in fairly stiff winds. During our latter portion of our visit to this location we located our second Wilson's Warbler of the day loosely associating with 4 Orange-crowned Warblers. The main bulk of the Orange-crowned Warblers drifted north from the vegetation bordering S.R.105 north to the "greenbelt" of vegetation bordering The open mudflats of Bottle Beach and would probably continue northward over Grays Harbor to points north. We never observed any of the warblers flying north over Bottle Beach,but they could have drifted slightly east due to the windy conditions at the time or roosted for the time and continuing on during the night. It was an interesting observation for us and there could have been more Orange-crowned Warblers than we observed,but perhaps other noteworthy accounts will occur. Overall Orange-crowned Warblers was the most common bird encountered during the day with multiple birds heard/and or seen from several locations that were visited,but it was exciting to see the amount in a limited area as at Bottle Beach.


Shorebird numbers at Bottle Beach were obviously much higher and denser than our visit on the 17th of April and due to the windy conditions,lighting and exact tide conditions viewing was limited during our visit. The most abundant shorebird species were Western Sandpiper,Short-billed Dowitcher and Dunlin followed by far lesser numbers of Black-bellied Plovers,Semipalmated Plovers, Red Knots, and up to 10 Greater Yellowlegs. The main concentration of shorebirds were noted mainly east of Bottle Beach along the exposed mudflats,but as tide conditions decreased numbers were noted to the west in addition to shorebirds swirling around in the wind by a Merlin that was briefly noted during our visit. Our main deterrent was the wind,but shorebird viewing may increase during the week with much higher "high" tides that make viewing better. Also at Bottle Beach we noted a large flock of geese flying north over Grays Harbor that could have been either Greater White-fronted Geese or Canada Geese,but due to distance and lighting no significant details were noted along with the wind that shifted the flock around with no main formation.

A list of other noteworthy species encountered during the day included the following:

Common Loon
1 in breeding plumage at Friends Landing

"Cackling"Canada Goose
2 at the Nisqually NWR

Cinnamon Teal
14 at the Nisqually NWR

Greater Scaup
1 pair at Friends Landing

Barrow's Goldeneye
2 along Madrona Beach Rd. at Mud Bay,Thurston Co.

Northern Harrier
1 along Keys Rd. near Satsop
1 along Brady Loop Rd.

Osprey
1 near Lacey
2 at the Schouweiler Rd. wetland near Elma
2 along Keys Rd. near Satsop
1 along Brady Loop Rd.

Merlin
1 along Hwy.12 at Schouweiler Rd.
1 at Bottle Beach

Am.Kestrel
1 at the Nisqually NWR
1 along Foster Rd.(Brady Loop Rd. complex)

Virginia Rail(heard only)
1 at the Nisqually NWR
2 along Brady Loop Rd.

Sora(heard only)
2 at the Nisqually NWR
3 along Brady Loop Rd.

Spotted Sandpiper
1 along Madrona Beach Rd. at Mud Bay

Greater Yellowlegs
10 at the Nisqually NWR
4(with 1 Black-bellied Plover,2 Dunlin, and 6 Short-billed Dowitchers)at Mud Bay
2 along Brady Loop Rd.
2 along S.R.105 west of Aberdeen
10 at Bottle Beach

Least Sandpiper
40+(with 17 Western Sandpipers and 65+ Dunlin)at the Nisqually NWR

Caspian Tern
2 at Bottle Beach

Band-tailed Pigeon
relatively scattered numbers noted during the entire day with the densest numbers still noted along Keys Rd. near Satsop with 90+ birds observed

Anna's Hummingbird
1 female observed along the woodland trail to the Twin Barns at the Nisqually NWR

Pileated Woodpecker
1 at the Nisqually NWR

Red-breasted Sapsucker
1 pair flying along I-5 south of Lacey
1 pair flying along Hwy.8 east of Elma

Western Scrub Jay
1 along Brady Loop Rd.

Am.Pipit
4 at the Nisqually NWR
1 along Brady Loop Rd.

Cedar Waxwing
12 along Schouweiler Rd. near Elma

Golden-crowned Sparrow
2 at the Nisqually NWR
2 at Bottle Beach
35 along Brady Loop Rd.

Lincoln's Sparrow
1 at Bottle Beach
2 along Brady Loop Rd.



Good birding,

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












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