Hi Tweets,

I was able to fit a quick beach walk in yesterday evening from 6:00-7:00pm,
just south of Westport and witnessed the signs of fall - shorebirds and
lots of them. I accessed the beach off of W. Hancock Rd, which is south of
Westport and just behind the Chateau Westport hotel.

The beach in this area is quarter-sized cobbles over hard-packed sand. I
saw:

700-800 Western Sandpipers - of few still in bright plumage, but most of
them were showing wear and tear on their feathers
2 Whimbrel: male and female (at least theire beaks were different lengths)
11 Semipalmated Plovers
2 Black-bellied Plover - one still mostly in breeding plumage. The bird
had white feathers poking through the black making the belly look very
mottled. The second bird was already in non-breeding plumage
2 Red Crossbills - a bonus bird on the coast in the shore pines
100s, maybe thousands of Sooty Shearwaters migrating south.

Good Birding,

Marcus Roening
Tacoma, WA
marcus.d.roening at gsk.com