Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I birded the Ocean Shores area along with a few additional areas covered to and from destinations,including a morning visit to East Bay near Olympia and a short visit made along Brady Loop Rd. on our way home this afternoon. We encountered increasing numbers of shorebirds at Ocean Shores with Western Sandpipers being the most abundant species,which added to the 17 species of shorebirds we encountered during the entire day. The most productive areas for shorebirds during the day were at Bill's Spit followed by a visit made along the oceans beaches between Marine View Drive and Butter Clam Street,but increasing numbers should follow in upcoming weeks as migration continues. We encountered good weather with just a few scattered rain showers with increasing cloudiness on our way home. A list of notable species followed at selected locations follows below:

East Bay/south end of Budd Inlet,Thurston Co. 7:15am-7:30am

1 immature Brown Pelican
1 adult Heermann's Gull
1 Ring-billed Gull
23 Caspian Terns
15+ Purple Martins

Hoquiam STP 8:30am-8:45am

1 Green-winged Teal
3 Greater Scaup
1 Northern Harrier
1 Western Sandpiper
2 Least Sandpipers

Bill's Spit 9:30am-9:45am

1 Osprey
1 Northern Harrier
48+ Black-bellied Plovers
22 Semipalmated Plovers
38 Whimbrel
650+ Western Sandpipers
44 Least Sandpipers
280+ Short-billed Dowitchers

Ocean Shores Jetty 10am-11am

12 Pacific Loons
14 Brown Pelicans
3 Western Grebes
7-8,000+ Sooty Shearwaters(impressive offshore numbers with the majority of the birds being in large flocks along the horizon west of the jetty)
38 Surf Scoters
17 White-winged Scoters
1 Ruddy Turnstone
3 Black Turnstones
7 Surfbirds
120+ Heermann's Gulls
80 California Gulls
650+ Common Murres
3 Marbled Murrelets
1 Cassin's Auklet(briefly,but well observed approximately 40 yards offshore with a Common Murre before flying off to the north)
28 Rhinoceros Auklets
1 Tufted Puffin

ocean beaches between Marine View Drive and Butter Clam Street(accessed from Ocean Shores Blvd.) 11:15am-12pm

1 Pacific Loon
60+ Sooty Shearwaters
10 Brown Pelicans
23 Surf Scoters
14 White-winged Scoters
1 Osprey
68 Semipalmated Plovers
1 Marbled Godwit
48 Sander
210+ Western Sandpipers
3 Dunlin

Oyhut Wildlife Area(accessed behind the Ocean Shores STEP) 12:30pm-1pm

4 Common Loons
15 Brown Pelicans
3 families of Northern Shovelers(Ocean Shores STP)
2 Harlequin Ducks
1 Bufflehead
4 Turkey Vultures
1 Ring-necked Pheasant
3 Snowy Plovers(2 adult males,1 adult female)
17 Semipalmated Plovers
1 pair of Killdeer(with 3 young)
2 Greater Yellowlegs
300+ Western Sandpipers
5 Least Sandpipers

Damon Point 1:15pm-2pm

25 Brown Pelicans
good numbers/concentrations of Surf Scoters with smaller numbers of White-winged Scoters(North Bay)
1 Turkey Vulture
1 Greater Yellowlegs
120+ Western Sandpipers
48 Short-billed Dowitchers

Brady Loop Rd. 4pm

8 Turkey Vultures
1 Am.Kestrel
8 Spotted Sandpipers
3 Least Sandpipers
1 Wilson's Snipe

Hwy.101 east of Mud Bay,Thurston Co. 5:15pm

1 Cooper's Hawk

I-5 at Nisqually 5:30pm

1 Am.Kestrel



Dragonflies:

California Darner
Variable Darner
Eight-spotted Skimmer
Cardinal Meadowhawk

Butterflies:

Margined White
Cabbage White




Good birding,

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











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