Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I ventured over to Ft.Flagler State Park in Jefferson Co.,where we observed the Gray-crowned Rosy Finch at the Marrowstone Point Lighthouse thanks to the gracious help of Dan Waggoner. We arrived at parking area near the lighthouse grounds,where we were joined by Dan,who led us to the exact location where the Gray-crowned Rosy Finch was observed prior to our visit. We immediately obtained very close looks of this cooperative bird,as it foraged on the ground amongst a loose flock of Song and White-crowned Sparrows until the bird moved around the grounds of the lighthouse along the edge of a white wooden fenceline. We continued watching the bird,as well as take many photographs of the bird at very close range and the bird just seemed interested in feeding on weed seeds,etc.We left the bird at 1:30pm,as it foraged under a boat within the grounds and we continued on our way to the other side of Ft.Flagler S.P.

We have placed 4 photos of the Gray-crowned Rosy Finch onto our website,which can be accessed at the following link: http://www.pbase.com/godwit/current along with several other recent sightings.

We checked the spit accessed from the recreation area on the west side of the park that produced a few noteworthy species with a walk made to the tip of the spit. Our main highlight was a single Red Knot observed amongst a large group of various shorebird species primarily consisting of Black-bellied Plovers,Black Turnstones,Sanderling and Dunlin. This was our 4th fall/winter record of this species at this location and seems to continue to be a good spot for roosting shorebirds. The Red Knot was observed on the tip of Indian Island that sticks out into the water across from the spit at Ft.Flagler S.P.,as it foraged loosely amongst the other shorebirds before flying to a more sheltered area along the shoreline of Indian Island and much tougher to see from the current vantage point. The other shorebird highlight amongst this flock of shorebirds and always a nice sighting for fall/winter was a single Ruddy Turnstone along with 3 Surfbirds and 2 Rock Sandpipers. Other notable species encountered from this location included the following:

3 Eared Grebes
145+ "Black"Brant
32 Harlequin Ducks
5 Long-tailed Duck
57 Black-bellied Plovers
37 Black Turnstones
75+ Sanderlings
105+ Dunlin
2 Herring Gulls
5 Thayer's Gulls
2 Marbled Murrelets
1 Western Meadowlark

Working our way home we checked a few additional locations beginning along the "cut" between Indian and Marrowstone Island along S.R.116 that hosted up to 6 Greater yellowlegs and north of that location 3 separate Sharp-shinned Hawks and a single Cooper's Hawk. A visit made at Port Hadlock along 3rd Street at 3pm produced the Blue Jay,which was briefly heard calling several times immediately west of Maple Street. A single Merlin and 5 Varied Thrushes were also tallied from this location before checking another location that ended our day. At the intersection of Cape George Rd. and Discovery Rd. we checked a viewable pond that hosted 2 Trumpeter Swans among more common waterfowl species and up to 7 California Quail along the brushy roadside. This is a nice location that has some potential in migration,especially for shorebirds with enough searching/checking and is readily accessed via Four Corners Rd. off of Hwy.19.


Good birding,

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