Hello Tweets,

We begin this message with a short note from our day of birding yesterday(October 23rd)and sightings from the Bottle Beach-Tokeland area. We partially birded with Phil Bartley,who observed the Black-tailed Gull earlier in the day and joined us at several locations from Midway Beach Rd. to Tokeland. Our main highlights consisted of the following species:

1 Great Egret along S.R.105 at the Johns River

1 Sharp-shinned Hawk along S.R.105 at Midway Beach Rd. with an additional bird at Tokeland

1 Merlin along S.R.105 north of Grayland with an additional bird at Midway Beach Rd.

1 Peregrine Falcon at Midway Beach Rd. with 2 additional birds at North Cove

15 Black-bellied Plovers at Tokeland(Graveyard Spit)

22 Snowy Plovers and 15 Semipalmated Plovers at Midway Beach Rd.

The lingering Bar-tailed Godwit at the Tokeland Marina amongst a flock of 950+ Marbled Godwits,17 Willets,1 Greater Yellowlegs,1 Least Sandpiper, and 4 Long-billed Dowitchers

450+ Dunlin,35 Western Sandpipers and 150+ Least Sandpipers at Midway Beach Rd.

155 Black-bellied Plovers and 1 Pectoral Sandpiper at Bottle Beach

3 Caspian Terns at Tokeland

1 Great Horned Owl observed flying along Hwy.8 west of Elma(our last species of the day)

1 Townsend's Warbler at North Cove

5 "Streaked"Horned Larks,30 Am.Pipits, and 5 Western Meadowlarks at Midway Beach Rd.

5 Savannah Sparrows at Midway Beach Rd. with an additional bird noted near the Tokeland Marina



Today(October 24th)my mother and I enjoyed a rewarding all around good day at Ocean Shores with many highlights to mention below. We spent the majority of the day on foot checking most of the regular locations including the Oyhut Wildlife Area,Damon Point,the Ocean Shores Jetty,and a partial visit to a few other locations. An afternoon visit to Damon Point and the eastern portion of Oyhut Wildlife Area between 1pm-3pm produced several notable species including a pair of Long-tailed Ducks observed from Damon Point in North Bay and is our fifth personal record for Ocean Shores. The bird swam and dove continuously,but occasionally rested fairly far apart from eachother,then continued further offshore towards a large gathering of Surf Scoters. Another noteworthy highlight encountered as we were watching the Long-tailed Ducks in North Bay was a single Clark's Grebe with 4 Western Grebes,which is our 3rd personal record for Ocean Shores. We walked as far as the eastern edge of the Damon Point"pond" with extensive coverage of other days was made,despite some shooting from hunters behind the Ocean Shores STP earlier in the day.

The weather was very good for the majority of the day with just one rain shower,as we birded then more rain showers on our way home in the Elma-Brady area. Shorebird numbers were most abundant from the Oyhut Wildlife Area,especially behind the Ocean Shores STP with very large numbers of Dunlin roosting and foraging during outgoing tide with additional flocks noted from other nearby locations. We estimated our largest flocks of Dunlin at 8,500 birds presumably of south-bound migrants staging for wintering areas. Along with these large flocks of Dunlin were small numbers of Western Sandpipers and scattered numbers of Least Sandpipers,with a nearly pure flock of 250+ flock of Least Sandpipers observed roosting in dry portions of the upper beach line at the eastern portion of the Oyhut Wildlife Area. Brown Pelican numbers continued fairly good,especially of the Ocean Shores Jetty and in the general Damon Point area along with up to 150 Western Grebes noted offshore from the Marine View Drive beach access,where we obtained great views of a Pomarine Jaeger close offshore. A walk made of a Scot's Broom thicket north of the Ocean Shores Marina and immediately east of the Ocean Shores Interpretive Center produced 2 Palm Warblers(with 1 Savannah Sparrow),which were quite elusive at times. Our visit to the Ocean Shores Jetty produced our first Rock Sandpipers of the season with up to 3 birds counted amongst a flock of 15 Black Turnstones and up to 1 Surfbird. On our way home we stopped and checked the Hoquiam STP,then along the Brady Loop Rd. complex to Foster Rd. at 5pm,where our last species and highlight of the day consisted of a Rough-legged Hawk,which was also our earliest personal record for the location. A list of other highlights noted during the day at selected locations include the following:

Eared Grebe
1 at the Hoquiam STP

Great Egret
2 at the Oyhut Wildlife Area

1 adult Snow Goose(with 17 Greater White-fronted Geese and 18 "Cackling" Canada Geese)at the Ocean Shores Golf Course with 4 additional Snow Geese(2 adults,2 immature birds with 12 "Cackling"Canada Geese)at the Ocean Shores STP,followed by our last Snow Goose of the day noted along the northern portion of Foster Rd.(Brady Loop Rd. complex)with an adult bird observed alone in a fairly overgrown grassy field.

Good numbers of Canada Geese were noted along the short-grassy fields north of the Hoquiam STP at the Bowerman Airport including up to 3 "Dusky"Canada Geese with numbers of within the "Cackling"Canada Goose complex were fairly low during day with a few flocks noted,including a single "Aleutian"Canada Goose observed at the Ocean Shores Golf Course.

1 male Eurasian Wigeon at the Cabana"pond"(Ocean Shores)

1 pair of Harlequin Ducks at the Oyhut Wildlife Area

1 female Black Scoter at the Ocean Shores Jetty followed by 2 males at the Oyhut Wildlife Area

3 Ruddy Ducks at the Hoquiam STP

4 Northern Harriers at the Oyhut Wildlife Area

1 Sharp-shinned Hawk at the Oyhut Wildlife Area followed by an additional bird noted near Damon Point

3 Am.Kestrels along the Brady Loop Rd. complex

1 Merlin at the Oyhut Wildlife Area followed by an additional bird noted near the O.S.Marina

1 Peregrine Falcon north of the Oyhut Wildlife Area followed by 2 Peregrine Falcons observed together along S.R.109 at Bowerman Basin

2 Ring-necked Pheasants at the Oyhut WA

2 Black-bellied Plovers at the Oyhut WA with 2 additional birds along the ocean beaches at Marine View Drive along with 8 birds at Damon Point.

1 Ruddy Turnstone at the base of Damon Point

5 Pectoral Sandpipers at the Ocean Shores STP followed by 2 additional birds at the Oyhut WA

4 Parasitic Jaegers, 25 Heermann's Gulls and 7 Black-legged Kittiwakes off the Ocean Shores Jetty

2 Herring Gulls and 1 Caspian Tern at the Oyhut WA

1 Western Scrub Jay along Foster Rd.

1 immature Northern Shrike along Marina View Drive immediately west of Tonquin Ave.

30+ Yellow-rumped Warblers observed along Fairwood Drive(Ocean Shores)

2 Lapland Longspurs(with 17 Am.Pipits)at the Damon Point"pond"

15 Savannah Sparrows at Damon Point with 3 additional birds noted at the Oyhut WA

10 Western Meadowlarks north of the Oyhut WA

75+ Red Crossbills near the O.S. Interpretive Center


Good birding,

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