Greetings All,

I took advantage of working at a federal installation on MLK Day by heading over to the coast. The plan was to check out some areas I haven't seen, or haven't seen for quite awhile. A stop at Ocosta Third was "all the usual suspects" with the exception of a Varied Thrush that decided to drop in for a long visit. Backtracking to John's River, I tried the trail on the east side of the river, the unpaved one. Never been back in there before and it was a delight. Lots of good habitat and some very friendly Winter Wrens. By the time I got up into the stand of Hemlocks(?) I could hear but couldn't see a Downy pecking away. It's pretty dense up there. On the way back down I flushed something large, flappy and brown. I'm guessing a Ruffed Grouse or somebody is missing one of his Rhode Island Reds.

A stop at Midway Beach but wasn't willing to hike the distance to try to catch up to a very active Gry who was leading birders up and down and up and down the beach. I ran into Tim O'Brien who reported seeing the Gry, a Peregrine AND a Merlin all harrassing a LARGE flock of Dunlin. I saw the flock, and it was huge! Tom Kogut from Packwood was there and estimated the number at about 1000 birds.

The obligatory stop at Tokeland and I was delighted to see 2 Whimbrel sleeping in with the Godwit flock. There were 10 to 15 Willets mixed in and 20+ LB Dowitchers. Grebes galore outside the marina including one Western, but the highlight was a dark Merlin that buzzed the sleeping flock of Godwits. Didn't faze 'em. They can sleep through anything. The poor Merlin landed atop a tree nearby that just happened to be full of Crows. He was NOT welcome! Great to see the size comparison. The Crows were half again larger than the Merlin.

All in all a nice day. No rain, 200 miles, 48 species and birders to visit with along the way.

-Rolan


Rolan Nelson
Fircrest, WA
rnbuffle at yahoo.com

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