Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I searched for the Black-tailed Gull along S.R.105 at North Cove in coastal Pacific Co. between 9:30am-6pm along with at least 3o other observers during the day,but we were unsuccessful in relocating the bird,despite extensive gull searching at North Cove and nearby areas,including extensive searching along the outer beaches by foot and vehicle north to Midway Beach and beyond. Of course this does not at all mean the Black-tailed Gull is not still in the vicinity,as there were huge numbers of gulls observed offshore of North Cove foraging around the perimeter of at least two sand "islands" and gull numbers at North Cove varied during the entire day predominantly of Heermann's and California Gulls with single Ring-billed Gulls and scattered Glaucous-winged/Western Gulls and Caspian Terns also noted. We learned from a second hand source in the field today that the Black-tailed Gull was observed by Ken Burden on the morning of the 5th during low tide at North Cove,so the bird was observed at least 2 days in a row and doesn't seem to have any set routine and may come and go as it pleases. The location at North Cove seems the very best since it offers gulls a chance to bath and drink,etc. from a freshwater creek that empties into the ocean along with available loafing areas for preening and resting along the sandy beaches. We observed most of the gulls that came in from offshore locations going straight to the creek,then to the sandy areas for roosting,but was often the case during the entire day they would get flushed by beachcombers,dogs and at least one time today an overhead Turkey Vulture,but the gulls would most often return and settle on the open sandy shoreline and beaches near the mouth of the creek. Perhaps tomorrow will be the day the Black-tailed Gull shows up and many of the birders we ran into in the field plan on returning tomorrow or on Monday and beyond. We believe the Black-tailed Gull could still be around and could show up at any time even with all the effort we made today and is a matter of time before it shows up again. At least 3 WA state birds in one week.................what will show up next?

The weather was very good today after leaving rain all the way to Brady this morning and we enjoyed every moment of the day,despite not seeing the Black-tailed Gull. WE did manage to locate a few highlights including several previously reported species by other birders beginning with an alternate-plumaged Pacific Golden Plover along the ocean beaches between Warrenton Cannery Rd. and Midway Beach Rd. that was also observed by other birders during the day. Our short visit to Tokeland at 4pm produced the immature Franklin's Gull(previously reported by Steve Nord on the 4th of August and also observers by other birders during the day),which was very cooperative allowing many photographs to be taken of it at close range. The bird was at the same or general vicinity than Steve Nord reported the bird being at along the northern end of the protective rock wall bordering Tokeland from Willapa Bay. A juvenile Semipalmated Sandpiper, 3 juvenile Baird's Sandpipers, and 15 Red-necked Phalaropes were well observed at a "pond" at the west end of Midway Beach Rd.,which may continue to produce migrating shorebirds through the fall. An additional Baird's Sandpiper was observed calling in flight at the end of Warrenton-Cannery Rd. Other noteworthy highlights noted during the day included the following:

Common Loon
1 flying overhead at North Cove

Western Grebe
2 off North Cove

Sooty Shearwater
3+ off North Cove

Brown Pelican
45+ off North Cove

Harlequin Duck
1 female off North Cove

Surf Scoter
38 off North Cove
15 off the ocean beaches north of North Cove

White-winged Scoter
22 off North Cove

Turkey Vulture
5 at North Cove
5 at Tokeland
3 along S.R.105 at the Johns River
2 along Hwy.12 near Lake Aberdeen
3 along Hwy.12 west of Montesano
3 along Hwy.12 at Brady
2 along Hwy.12 at Satsop
1 along Hwy. 12 at Elma
2 along S.R.8 at McCleary

Cooper's Hawk(first species of the day)
1 along I-5 north of Ft.Lewis

Am.Kestrel
1 along Hwy.12 at Keys Rd.(Satsop)

Semipalmated Plover
38 at North Cove
14 along the ocean beaches north of North Cove

Greater Yellowlegs
6 at the Johns River WRA(Grays Harbor Co.)
1 at North Cove

Lesser Yellowlegs
2 at the Johns River WRA

Spotted Sandpiper
3 at North Cove

Whimbrel
83 at Tokeland

Marbled Godwit
374 at Tokeland

Black Turnstone
2 at North Cove

Western Sandpiper
17 at North Cove
48 along the ocean beaches between North Cove and Midway Beach Rd.

Least Sandpiper
1 along the ocean beaches at Warrenton-Cannery Rd.
4 at Midway Beach Rd.

Baird's Sandpiper
1 at North Cove
1 at Warrenton-Cannery Rd.
4 at Midway Beach Rd.

Long-billed Dowitcher
2 at Tokeland

Red-necked Phalarope
1 at North Cove
15 at Midway Beach Rd.

Mew Gull
2 at Tokeland

Common Nighthawk
2 flying along Hwy.12 at Brady Loop Rd.(last species of the day)

"Streaked"Horned Lark
2 along the ocean beaches south of Midway Beach Rd.



Butterflies:

1 Anise Swallowtail at Midway Beach Rd.
2 Woodland Skippers at North Cove



Good birding,

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








-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20040807/1ae586d2/attachment.htm