Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I birded from Ocean Shores to Tokeland,despite the rather drizzly,foggy conditions in the Ocean Shores area that later cleared slightly after driving past Ocosta Third Street on towards Tokeland. Overall birding conditions remained quite slow throughout the day with our main highlights persisting during a mid-afternoon visit to Midway Beach Rd.,of which our main highlight was a immature female Long-tailed Duck and 2 Eared Grebes amongst a small flock of Greater and Lesser Scaups,Buffleheads and a single Surf Scoter. Both species were noted swimming in the large,flooded "canal" at the end of the road beyond the road closed barricade and were a noteworthy sighting given the location. We managed to obtain many photographs of the Long-tailed Duck and a few photos of the Eared Grebes,which of the latter species was our first personal record for the location. Up to 40 Snowy Plovers were also encountered during a rather short walk at Midway Beach Rd. amongst a small number of "peeps".A visit to Tokeland Marina produced the lingering juvenile Bar-tailed Godwit that was noted roosting amongst a flock of 800+ Marbled Godwits. We stopped by the Black-tailed Gull location along S.R.105 at North Cove after 12pm,where we ran into a few birders still searching for the bird and up to 3 Heermann's Gulls were noted.

Other highlights noted during the day included the following:

Eared Grebe
1 at the Hoquiam STP
2 at Midway Beach Rd.

Great Egret
1 at the Oyhut Wildlife Area(Ocean Shores)
5 along S.R.105 at Bay City(Elk River Bridge)
2 at Tokeland

Snow Goose
1 immature bird amongst a fairly large flock of Canada Geese at Bowerman Basin

"Cackling"Canada Goose
18 at the Ocean Shores Golf Course

Eurasian Wigeon
1 at Bill's Spit

Canvasback
48 at the Hoquiam STP

Black Scoter
1 female at the Oyhut WA

Barrow's Goldeneye
1 lingering male near the Quinault Beach Resort and Casino(north of Ocean Shores)

Ruddy Duck
20 at the Hoquiam STP

Sharp-shinned Hawk
1 at Bill's Spit
1 along S.R.105 west of Aberdeen

Cooper's Hawk
1 along S.R.115 south of Ocean City State Park

Am.Kestrel
1 at the Hoquiam STP

Merlin
1 at Midway Beach Rd.

Peregrine Falcon
1 immature at Damon Point
1 adult at Bowerman Basin
1 adult at Midway Beach Rd.

Ring-necked Pheasant
2 at Ocean Shores

Virginia Rail
1 calling bird along Ocosta Third Street

Black-bellied Plover
12 at Damon Point
20+ at Bowerman Basin

Willet
17 at the Tokeland Marina

Long-billed Curlew
35 at Tokeland

Black Turnstone
24 at the Oyhut WA

Western Sandpiper
30+ at Bowerman Basin
3 at Midway Beach Rd.

Least Sandpiper
25 at the Oyhut WA
68 at Midway Beach Rd.

Dunlin
2,200+ at Bowerman Basin

Long-billed Dowitcher
8 at the Tokeland Marina

Caspian Tern
7 at Tokeland

"Streaked"Horned Lark
3 at Midway Beach Rd.

Hermit Thrush
1 along Warrenton-Cannery Rd.(North Cove)

Hutton's Vireo
1 at Tokeland

Western Meadowlark
1 at Midway Beach Rd.

Red Crossbill
60+ near the Ocean Shore Interpretive Center


In addition to birding we observed two mammal species which included a single "beached" California Sea Lion along the oceans beaches at Midway Beach Rd. and 2 Nutria along Ocosta Third Street.



Good birding,

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