Keith Brady and I made a few stops in Thurston County this afternoon. Luhr
Beach was fairly productive just after the high tide with hundreds of birds
present including:
1 Eared/Horned Grebe (quite distant, but looked more Eared with a small head
and thin neck. It was quite washed out plumage-wise)
3 Osprey
1 Peregrine Falcon (juv)
2 SEMIPALMATED PLOVER (when the tide was receding enough to allow small sand
patches along a few of the closer inlets near the mouth of McAllister Creek
you could make out the larger sandpipers...but conditions are not great. I
must stress that shorebirding from Luhr is really hit or miss and you must
use a scope set higher than 30X to see anything. Can be frustrating.)
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
5 BAIRD'S SANDPIPER (Our first for the county. Someday we'll get Nisqually
NWR to build a blind out there and then we'll be able to get this species
every year! Or, better yet, they could actually create some ponds anywhere
on the refuge! Even after the birds he's still bitter.)
1 SURFBIRD (As we were gloating over the Bairds we heard a strange call
coming from the west side of the parking area heading towards the
observation deck. I thought it might be some weird noise from a Common
Tern - I was expecting this species today - but instead it came from a
smaller bird with a Caspian Tern. I've never heard Surfbirds before so we
were first at a loss for what to call this shorebird. Luckily it came
around in front of us and then circled back the way it came allowing us to
see all the field marks of a Surfbird in flight! Conditions are not great
for this species in the area, so chances of refinding it are slim...but if
you were to chance it I would think high tide time would be best since it
would put the bird up from wherever it may have been feeding.)
1 Bonaparte's Gull
Purple Martin

We decided to head over to Boston Harbor to see if the Surfbird made its way
over there. No luck, but we did see:
1 Common Loon
1 BROWN PELICAN (way across the channel near the far shore when looking
north from the parking area. It may actually have been in Mason county
waters for those Mason county listers who need it. I believe this is the
same bird that has been coming into the downtown Olympia area this late
summer.)
1 Osprey
Pigeon Guillemot

Jason Paulios
Jpaulios at earthlink.net
Olympia, WA