Yesterday 13 of us enjoyed a Seattle Audubon Society trip to Grays Harbor
County. It was truly a group effort and all of those eyes paid off.

First stop was Brady Loop. There was a total of at least 5 WESTERN
SCRUB-JAYS and most likely more. One drake EURASIAN WIGEON among the
AMERICAN WIGEONS. One of the day's highlights was a good look at a GOLDEN
EAGLE. It shared a tree with a BALD EAGLE. We observed as a pair of
AMERICAN KESTRELS initiated the reproductive process. Immediately after
that a young PEREGRINE FALCON zoomed by at light speed and made a vain
attempt to secure breakfast while we watched from nearby.

Four unidentified swans flew over. Later Ginger Rebstock (sp?) spied 3
WHITE-FRONTED GEESE fly over as the rest of us were looking the opposite
direction. That was about the time we were looking at a ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK.
TREE and VG SWALLOWS were in good numbers. Other birds at Brady Loop
included GREATER YELLOWLEGS (2), BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS, TURKEY VULTURES (4
OR MORE), NORTHERN HARRIER and a smattering of ducks.

It was nearly noon by the time we reached Ocean Shores. The tide was wrong
and the birds absent. A handful of DUNLIN (one with a black belly) near
the STP and a lone LONG-BILLED CURLEW at Bill's Spit rounded out the
shorebird bonanza. We decided to head east where the birds were.

On Wenzel Slough Road Alan Lincoln yelled out "shrike" from the back seat.
Sure enough, he had spotted the LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE first reported by Patrick
Sullivan on Saturday. We were all happy. As we prepared to leave the
site, Ilene Samowitz brought our attention to a WHITE-TAILED KITE, flying
in the distance.

It was a fine group of folks and a nice collection of bird sightings.

It was a good day.

Marv Breece
Seattle, WA



--- Marv Breece
--- mbreece at earthlink.net
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