Hello Tweets,

This afternoon my mother and I enjoyed another rewarding visit to Luhr Beach between 2:30pm-5pm,despite rather windy conditions at times. Our main highlights began with a juvenile Pacific Golden Plover observed amongst 2 Black-bellied Plovers along the partially exposed mudflats along McAllister Creek during incoming tide at 3:15pm. The bird was well studied at this times,as it stayed closest to the edge of Salicornia,until all three birds flew off to the east towards the mouth of the Nisqually River. Of most interest in eliminating Am.Golden Plover were the seemingly long-legged appearance,upright posture giving the bid a plump-bellied posture along with fairly short primaries. This individual was very bright,showing a very distinctive and obvious warm,buffy supercillium along with a bright tertial and mantle pattern and having the sunlight bead onto the bird could have made it look even brighter than it truly was until the sun went behind some clouds showing little difference in overall tone. The size comparison was noticeably smaller than the nearby Black-bellied Plovers and in flight did show consistent pale underwings with a strong contrast on the upperwings. The bill was similar in structure than the nearby Black-bellied Plovers,but smaller. The three birds landed amongst a large flock of waterfowl at the mouth of the Nisqually River,where they could not be detected and they could have continued on from that location to higher ground.

The second highlight was a Cassin's Auklet observed only in flight due north of the Luhr Beach boat launch at 3:45pm,as it flew from east to west flying in the direction of Tolmie State Park. This was surprisingly the closest alcid species observed during our visit,as it clearly showed the darkish gray overall plumage with an obvious white belly. This very small alcid flew west in a steady,direct pattern and noticeably very fast with slightly paler underwings. The eye coloration was not observed,but the white eye crescents were briefly noted,as the bird shifted in the limited sunlight. Perhaps this bird was brought in by the stiff,heavy wings over the past few days and a further search of this mainly pelagic species could reveal additional birds. Our only other south Puget Sound record of Cassin's Auklet was an individual observed also in flight off the Dash Point public fishing pier on the 29th of November,2002.

Overall conditions at Luhr Beach were fairly slow compared to past visits with the exception of increasing numbers of waterfowl,primarily Am.Wigeon and Common Mergansers with far decreasing numbers of shorebirds noted. Good numbers of Double-crested Cormorants also persisted,specifically off the mouth of the Nisqually River. The immature Brown Pelican was also observed beginning as the bird loafed along the Nisqually Delta,then flying north to an unknown location. The bird was again observed just before we left at 4:50pm flying in from the north and flying around in circles over the Nisqually Reach north of the Nisqually River in Pierce Co. Up to 5 Marbled Godwits were observed along the muddy shoreline of McAllister Creek until they flew fairly high off to the east,as the circled several times before finally landing at the mouth of the Nisqually River amongst the large flock of waterfowl.

Additional notable species encountered during our visit included the following:

5 Common Loons
15 Horned Grebes
2 Red-necked Grebes
25+ Western Grebes
18 Surf Scoters
13 White-winged Scoters
1 Turkey Vulture(observed flying to the southeast over the Nisqually NWR with 3 Red-tailed Hawks)
1 Osprey
3 Northern Harriers
1 immature Peregrine Falcon
3 Black-bellied Plovers(with 1 additional lone bird observed on the Pierce Co. side of the Nisqually River)
1 Greater Yellowlegs
3 Sanderlings
220+ Western Sandpipers
1 Bonaparte's Gull
1 Western Gull
22+ Caspian Terns
2 Pigeon Guillemots
2 Marbled Murrelets
9 Rhinoceros Auklets
35+ Vaux's Swifts
1 Black Swift
1 Pileated Woodpecker
15+ Violet-green Swallows
1 Common Raven(observed flying over the Nisqually NWR)



Good birding,

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