Tweeters, after completing my BBS route yesterday I decided to bird my way
home via Tokeland, Midway Beach and Westport. I stopped at the Willapa
airport hoping to find White-tailed Kites but didn't find any. I did see a
N. HARRIER and a very pale fronted perched RED-TAILED HAWK that both had me
excited for a second. The tide was going out, but still quite high, when I
reached the very quiet Tokeland marina. Three peeps that sounded like
WESTERN SANDPIPERS flew over but wouldn't land. Out on the docks and
pilings were Western, R/Billed and G/Winged Gulls. A couple of distant
COMMON LOONS in non-breeding plumage were diving about as was one COMMON
MURRE (also in non-breeding plumage which surprised me, though they seem to
have a bizarre molting schedule).

I then drove north to Midway Beach Rd hoping for Snowy Plovers but didn't
find any (beginning to look like a pattern of failure?). There was a nice
patch of water on the hardpack which held about 300 peeps feeding on a
plethora of bugs moving about the surface of the water. There were about
40-50 LEAST SANDPIPERS and the rest were WESTERN SANDPIPERS. I heard some
HORNED LARKS but didn't go looking for them (I was getting a bit delirious
from lack of food and sleep). One lone OSPREY flew south along the beach.

Finally I stopped at Westport to check the jetty, however the town was
inundated with tourists (I later found out it was the first day of ocean
fishing for salmon) and surfers. Also the jetty lot was being checked by a
ranger for parking passes (I never realized you had to pay here! I guess I
owe the state parks about $150). I didn't have the cash or the energy to
tromp out there so I opted for parking at the Halfmoon bay lot and scoped
from the car. There were a few shorebirds flitting about at the end of the
jetty (the eastern 'bay' end) which looked either to be Westerns or Leasts.
In the straight between the jetties there were many BROWN PELICANS. I
didn't see any Heermann's Gulls, but there was a nice distant feeding flock
which could have contained a few. After an aborted attempt at the rock
groins downtown (they had closed off the main street and tourists were
everywhere) I headed home without many birds added to my day.

Jason Paulios
Jpaulios at earthlink.net
Olympia, WA