Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and birded the general Ocean Shores area along with additional areas covered in Grays Harbor Co. to and from destinations,including a morning visit made along Wenzel Slough Rd. near Vance Creek Co. Park in Elma and ending the day along Ocosta Third Street at Ocosta. We enjoyed a full day of birding checking many locations,as well as encountering several highlights with just a few scattered rain showers that were endured during the entire day with increasing winds. We began our day along Wenzel Slough Rd. west of Vance Creek Co. Park near Elma,where the previously reported White-tailed Kite was immediately observed perched atop a large deciduous tree upon our arrival to the location east of the Elma Airport at 8:30am. Other species noted at this location included 68 Tundra Swans,7 Trumpeter Swans, 2 Wilson's Snipes,and a single Hairy Woodpecker. Continuing west our next stop was the large,open fields at the south end of "K" Street in Hoquiam from 9:30am-10:15am,where we located only 1 Pink-footed Goose and 1 Greater White-fronted Goose amongst a small gathering of Canada Geese that were all observed at close range,but remained wary. We were unable to locate the additional Pink-footed Goose and Greater White-fronted Goose that have lingered at this location and noted yesterday,as we checked this location 2 additional times during the day with no luck with locating any geese flocks after our morning visit. Perhaps the geese flocks are shifting around the general Hoquiam area or may have moved off to another new location,so future visits to this location and other nearby areas will hopefully decide that. We arrived at Ocean Shores at 10:20am,where our first visit was made at the Ocean Shores Golf Course,where we encountered a flock of 13 Greater White-fronted Geese before we continued onto the Ocean Shores Jetty. At the Ocean Shores Jetty conditions were quite calm and somewhat slow,but a few noteworthy sightings were noted including a single dark-morph Northern Fulmar, 48+ Black-legged Kittiwakes, and up to 14 dominant race Rock Sandpipers. The remainder of our visit to Ocean Shores consisted of visits made to the Oyhut Wildlife Area, the Ocean Shores STP, the base of Damon Point, Lake Minard, and the Ocean Shores Marina with several areas being quite slow,as wind conditions increased after 12pm. We arrived back at "K" Street for our second visit of the day before we continued onto Ocosta Third Street,which was fairly productive during our visit between 3:15pm-4pm. We observed 4 species of shorebirds actively foraging in the flooded fields south of S.R.105 during high tide,including 5 Greater Yellowlegs and 5 Long-billed Dowitchers. We observed the Sora previously reported onto Tweeters along the partially flooded edges along Ocosta Third Street,as it actively foraged and called several times during our visit along with up to 4 Virginia Rails nearby. Our last species of the day was an Am.Bittern also noted at this location,as it allowed fairly close approach and views before retiring back into the thick marshy vegetation. Additional highlights noted during the day at the listed locations include the following:

Red-throated Loon
35+ off the Ocean Shores Jetty

Pacific Loon
20 off the Ocean Shores Jetty

Eared Grebe
2 at Lake Minard(observed from Tonquin Ave. at Ocean Shores)

Greater White-fronted Goose
1 at "K" Street at Hoquiam
13 at the Ocean Shores Golf Course
1 at the Ocean Shores STP

Canvasback
23 at the Hoquiam STP

Redhead
1 female at Grand Canal near the Ocean Shores Marina

Black Scoter
28 at the Ocean Shores Jetty

Ruddy Duck
9 at the Hoquiam STP
14 at Lake Minard(Ocean Shores)

Northern Harrier
1 along Hwy.12 at Elma
1 at "K" Street at Hoquiam
2 at the Oyhut Wildlife Area(Ocean Shores)
1 at Bowerman Basin
1 along Ocosta Third Street

Rough-legged Hawk
1 at "K" Street at Hoquiam
1 at the Paulson Rd. intersection along S.R.109(Bowerman Basin)
1 at the Oyhut Wildlife Area

Merlin
1 at Hoquiam
1 along S.R.109 near Bowerman Basin

Peregrine Falcon
1 adult along S.R.109 at Powell Rd.(near Grays Gables)
1 adult at the Oyhut Wildlife Area
1 immature along Marine View Drive near Lake Minard(Ocean Shores)
1 adult at Bill's Spit(Ocean Shores)
1 adult at "K" Street at Hoquiam
1 adult along Ocosta Third Street

Black-bellied Plover
1 at "K" Street at Hoquiam
8 along Ocosta Third Street

Greater Yellowlegs
1 along S.R.109 at Grays Gables
5 along Ocosta Third Street

Spotted Sandpiper
1 along the Hoquiam River at Hoquiam

Black Turnstone
22 at the Ocean Shores Jetty

Surfbird
7 at the Ocean Shores Jetty

Sanderling
1 at the Oyhut Wildlife Area

Least Sandpiper
1 at "K" Street at Hoquiam
5 at the Hoquiam STP

Dunlin
900+ along the Hoquiam River at "K" Street
450+ at the Oyhut Wildlife Area
45 along Ocosta Third Street

Common Murre
2 off the Ocean Shores Jetty

Red-breasted Sapsucker
1 along S.R.109 near Burrows Road

Western Scrub Jay
1 along Emerson Ave.at Hoquiam

Western Meadowlark
8 at "K" Street(Hoquiam)


Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
godwit at worldnet.att.net