Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I spent the day checking several Jefferson Co. locations from the Oak Bay County Park to Ft.Flagler S.P. along with a few areas in Kitsap Co. that we checked to and from destinations. The weather was superb with very calm conditions making birding very good at most locations. Our main highlight of the day was group of 4 Mountain Chickadees observed at a small community park at Port Gamble in Kitsap Co. that were heard then seen atop a large Western Hemlock tree. The birds remained for a few minutes actively hopping around the canopy of the tree before flying off together over Port Gamble towards Point No Point. It was a nice sighting to begin our somewhat slow day of birding ahead. We began the day at the Salsbury Point County Park followed by a brief stop made in Port Gamble,where we scoped both locations for waterbirds before continuing onto Jefferson Co. Good numbers of waterbirds were noted from most locations including Common Loons,Red-necked Grebes,Surf Scoters, and Pigeon Guillemots among a few additional species

In Jefferson Co. we checked both sides of the Oak Bay County Park,where our main highlight was 2 Pectoral Sandpipers that were noted in the vast estuary area bordering S.R.116. Continuing on we worked our way to Ft.Flagler S.P. stopping at a few more locations along S.R.116 at Nordlund and at Mystery Bay S.P along with a productive stop made at East Beach. Next,our visit to Ft.Flagler S.P. was somewhat slow with our only highlight consisting of a Western Meadowlark along the "spit" immediately west of the camping area. On our way home we stopped at Point No Point between 4-5pm,which hosted a single female Northern Harrier hunting the natural area immediately east of the lighthouse along with up to 5 Parasitic Jaegers(4 adults and 1 juvenile)noted offshore harassing small numbers of Bonaparte's Gulls. A list of additional highlights noted at selected locations follows below:

Pacific Loon
15 off East Beach(Jefferson Co.)
10 off Marrowstone Point at Ft.Flagler S.P.
25 at Point No Point

Common Loon
35 at Port Gamble(with smaller numbers noted at other locations during the day)

Harlequin Duck
17 at Oak Bay C.P.
2 off East Beach
15 at Ft.Flagler S.P.

Red-breasted Merganser
2 at Ft.Flagler S.P.

Sharp-shinned Hawk
1 at Mystery Bay S.P.

Cooper's Hawk
1 along S.R.116 at Nordlund

Peregrine Falcon
1 at Point No Point

Black-bellied Plover
1 at Oak Bay C.P.
6 at Hansville(Kitsap Co.)

Greater Yellowlegs
10 along S.R.116 at Nordlund
4 along S.R.116 east of Hadlock

Black Turnstone
10 at Ft.Flagler S.P.

Sanderling
25 at Marrowstone Point
15 at Hansville

Least sandpiper
8 at Oak Bay C.P.

Wilson's Snipe
1 at Point No Point

Parasitic Jaeger
1 off the Salsbury Point C.P.
5 at Point No Point

Heermann's Gull
4 at Salsbury Point C.P.
15 at Oak Bay C.P.
25 at Ft.Flagler S.P.
45+ at Point No Point

Herring Gull
4 at Oak Bay C.P.

Marbled Murrelet
35 at Salsbury Point C.P.
1 off East Beach

Mourning Dove
1 at Point No Point

Red-breasted Sapsucker
1 at Mystery Bay S.P.
1 along Oak Bay Rd. at Port Ludlow

Brown Creeper
1 at Ft.Flagler S.P.

Hutton's Vireo
1 at East Beach
1 at Ft.Flagler S.P.

Am.Pipit
1 at Oak Bay C.P.

Savannah Sparrow
8 at Oak Bay C.P.
3 at Ft.Flagler S.P.
5 at Point No Point

Purple Finch
5 at Point No Point



Good birding,

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