Hello Tweets and Oregon birders,

Yesterday(September 11th)my mother and I enjoyed a long day birding between Ocean Shores and Tokeland with relatively calm conditions during the entire day,despite large swells. Extensive walking was primarily made at the Oyhut Wildlife Area between the Ocean Shores STP to Tonquin Ave.and along the outer beaches between Marine View Drive and the Ocean Shores Jetty. Our main highlights of the day within 26 species of shorebirds consisted of the juvenile Ruff at the Oyhut Wildlife Area and up to 10 Buff-breasted Sandpipers observed at two locations,beginning with 2 with the Ruff at the Oyhut Wildlife Area and 8 birds at the Damon Point"pond" followed by 8 Pacific Golden Plovers and 1 Am.Golden Plover at the Oyhut Wildlife Area,which were all of juvenile birds. In addition noteworthy sightings included up to 18 Red Knots and 4 Dunlin observed amongst a flock of 168 Black-bellied Plovers and 14 Short-billed Dowitchers along the outer beaches(accessed from Marine View Drive). Near the end of the day at 7pm we spent 15 minutes scanning the gull flocks at North Cove for the Black-tailed Gull with NO success for those that may be interested. We ran into several birders at Ocean Shores,of which we exchanged our sightings and we managed to locate most of our target species for the day. Very large numbers of Brown Pelicans and Double-crested Cormorants persisted from several locations within Ocean Shores,primarily from North Bay and the Ocean Shores Jetty.

Very large,dense numbers of Western Sandpipers were encountered from the ocean beaches between Marine View Drive and Driftwood Street in the range of 7,000+birds in 3 separate flocks with other areas hosting very few numbers of "peeps". On a bad note, a Barred Owl was discovered dead and partially intact after leaving Ocean Shores west of Burrows Rd. Our final stop of the day was made at Tokeland shortly after 7:30pm during incoming tide,where we encountered 3 groups of Marbled Godwits that totaled 614 birds between the Tokeland Marina and the Bayshore RV Park along with 14 Willets,5 Whimbrel and our only Ruddy Turnstone of the day located amongst a flock of 7 Black Turnstones.

A list of additional highlights noted during the day include the following from selected locations:

Red-throated Loon
1 observed resting(beached)at very close range along the ocean beaches south of Driftwood Drive at Ocean Shores

Sooty Shearwater
5 off the Ocean Shores Jetty

Great Egret
1 at the Johns River WRA

Green Heron
1 along I-5 at Olympia

Greater White-fronted Goose
32 along S.R.109 at Grays Gables(with Canada Geese)


Cinnamon Teal
8 at the Johns River(with 2 Blue-winged Teal and 22 Northern Shovelers)

Hooded Merganser
2 at the Oyhut Wildlife Area


Turkey Vulture
3 at Ocean Shores
5 along S.R.109 at Grays Gables
15 along Hwy.12 west of Brady

Osprey
2 along I-5 at Nisqually

Northern Harrier
3 at the Oyhut Wildlife Area

Peregrine Falcon
1 adult and 1 immature at the Oyhut Wildlife Area
1 immature along the ocean beaches south of Marine View Drive(Ocean Shores)
1 along S.R.109 at Grays Gables

Sora
1 flushed at the Oyhut Wildlife Area

Black-bellied Plover
168 along the ocean beaches at Ocean Shores
8 at Damon Point

Semipalmated Plover
3 at Bill's Spit
5 at the Oyhut Wildlife Area
7 at Damon Point

Greater Yellowlegs
1 at the Oyhut Wildlife Area
2 at the Johns River Wildlife Area(with 8 Lesser Yellowlegs)

Wandering Tattler
2 at the Ocean Shores Jetty

Whimbrel
3 at the Oyhut Wildlife Area
1 along the ocean beaches at Ocean Shores
5 at Tokeland

Long-billed Curlew
2 at Bill's Spit(with 6 Marbled Godwits)

Black Turnstone
8 at the Oyhut Wildlife Area
7 at Tokeland

Pectoral Sandpiper
6 at the Oyhut Wildlife Area
1 at the Johns River Wildlife Area

Baird's Sandpiper
1 at the Oyhut Wildlife Area
1 at Damon Point

Wilson's Snipe
3 at the Johns River Wildlife Area

Red-necked Phalarope
1 at the Oyhut WA

Mew Gull
2 at Tokeland

Vaux's Swift
25+ along S.R.109 at Hoquiam

Red-breasted Sapsucker
1 along Hwy.8 east of Summit Lake,Thurston Co.

Olive-sided Flycatcher
1 at the Oyhut WA

Pacific-slope Flycatcher
1 at the Oyhut WA

"Streaked"Horned Lark
4 at Damon Point

Gray Jay
2 along Hwy.8(west of Mud Bay,Thurston Co.)

Western Scrub Jay
1 along I-5 at Olympia
2 along Hwy.12 at Elma

Am.Pipit
75+ at the Oyhut WA
35 at the Johns River WA

Warbling Vireo
1 at the Oyhut WA

Orange-crowned Warbler
3 at the Oyhut WA

Yellow Warbler
8 at the Oyhut WA
1 at Tokeland

Black-throated Gray Warbler
4 at the Oyhut WA

Wilson's Warbler
1 at the Oyhut WA

Western Tanager
3 at the Oyhut WA

Evening Grosbeak
5 at the Johns River WA


Mammal highlight of the day:

1 Coyote at the Johns River WA



Good birding,

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