Hello Tweets,

This afternoon my mother and I again checked Luhr Beach in search of anything new,as well as maybe seeing the Long-tailed Jaeger again. We were unsuccessful in locating any jaegers,but did locate a few other good sightings. We had great conditions after we arrived at 11:45am,as the tide slowly began to move in then by 1pm moved in much faster until we left the location at 2:30pm with slower birding conditions. Good numbers of gulls, Caspian Terns,Great Blue Herons,Double-crested Cormorants and various waterfowl species were apparent from various points from the Nisqually Reach,including several large "rafts" of Common Mergansers. During our visit we noted several flocks of Western Sandpipers that shifted around the open mudflats of the Nisqually Delta in the number range of 1200+ birds,but the flocks were break up at times and move to more concealed areas further east along the Nisqually Delta.

The best viewing at Luhr Beach seems to be from the large covered dock at the Audubon Center since you are higher than the water level and distortion seems to be less apparent than scoping from the boat launch area. We carefully scoped the open water of the Nisqually Reach,as well as the Nisqually Delta along with walking a portion of the rocky beaches to the north of Luhr Beach. Our main highlights included a Wandering Tattler that apparently flew in from Anderson Island to the north and briefly landed on a portion of the rocky oyster-lined shoreline along Luhr Beach,briefly foraged then eventually flew off along the shoreline to the west. This was an unexpected species,but is one we eventually thought of encountering,but not from this location. The second highlight was a single female Black Scoter that flew in from the west and landed at the mouth of McAllister Creek,where it remained for some time until it flew back to the west and was also very unexpected given the time of year,although is a species we have encountered at this location very sparingly during the winter months. Perhaps this bird oversummered could be a theory. Also in the shorebird category highlights included up to 8 Baird's Sandpipers from various points along McAllister Creek,beginning with a group of 7 birds noted foraging alone along the upper portions of mudflat areas followed by a single bird picked out amongst a flock of Western Sandpipers. We later observed a group of 4 Baird's Sandpipers along McAllister Creek in the same location as the group of 7 birds,which we presumed were the same birds. Secondly, 2 Sanderlings were picked out in our spotting scopes amongst a large shifting group of Western Sandpipers at the Nisqually Delta,as the tide moved in.

Other highlights noted at Luhr Beach included the following:

1 Common Loon
1 alternate-plumaged Horned Grebe
1 Greater Scaup
1 Surf Scoter
4 Ospreys
1 Cooper's Hawk
7 Bonaparte's Gulls
10 Common Terns
2 Western Gulls
5 Pigeon Guillemots
4 Rhinoceros Auklets
4 Band-tailed Pigeons
1 Vaux's Swift
1 female Purple Martin


On our way home we made a brief stop to the Nisqually NWR,where up to 2 Black Swifts were observed flying fairly high overhead(in patches of the blue sky with clouds)amongst a small swallow flock.


Sincerely,

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


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