Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I enjoyed a very rewarding day at Ocean Shores after a torrential rainstorm that caused a short delay in our birding before 1:30pm and probably one of the heaviest rainstorms we have personally encountered at Ocean Shores for the length of time.Our main highlights occurred at the Oyhut Wildlife Area(accessed behind the Ocean Shores STP)with a total of 4 juvenile Ruffs between 1:45pm-3:45pm, of which 3 were found earlier in the day by Stefan Schlick,who we ran previously into at Damon Pt. during a very heavy downpour. We were able to relocate all 3 Ruffs,then a 4th bird in a group of 15 Pectoral Sandpipers,which were all foraging in a vast flooded Salicornia field at the Oyhut Wildlife Area north of the tall,fluorescent orange navigation tower. Up to 2 birds were able to be photographed at a given time with the additional 2 birds foraging further out in dense areas of Salicornia mixed in with other shorebirds. It was truly a spectacle to see and an opportunity we definitely hadn't anticipated on! We watched the 4 Ruffs forage amongst other shorebirds,as tide conditions declined pushing water in very fast and by the time we left the location the areas was literally a lake of water and thanks to all our rain gear and boots we stayed nice and dry. All 4 Ruffs were basically in the same plumage,although at least 1 bird showed some subtle features that were different than the other 3 birds including darker areas on the face and neck and more contrasting on the tertials and mantle coloration with brighter rufous upperparts. It seems to be a very good season already for Ruff,so perhaps more will be encountered at other location in WA.

As we stood in water watching and photographing the Ruffs and skies cleared partially we encountered several other species of shorebirds that just seemed to fly in from all directions,including a single juvenile Sharp-tailed Sandpiper amongst a dense flock of Pectoral Sandpipers. The Sharp-tailed Sandpiper didn't remain for too long,as the presence of up to 2 Merlins and 1 adult Peregrine Falcon kept all the shorebirds quite nervous and alert,but at times most of the shorebirds were very busy feeding,especially all 4 Ruffs. Shorebirds continued flocking to higher ground,as water pushed in at a fairly high rate with increasing numbers of Pectoral Sandpipers compared to when we first arrived along with 15 other shorebird species. A list of the most noteworthy highlights observed at the Oyhut Wildlife Area during our visit included the following:

3 Great Egrets
32 Greater White-fronted Geese
18 Northern Shovelers(including several individuals from the nearby Ocean Shores STP)
1 Red-breasted Merganser
1 Osprey
4 Northern Harriers
2 Merlin
1 adult Peregrine Falcon
28 Black-bellied Plover
1 Pacific Golden Plover
4 Greater Yellowlegs
7 Lesser Yellowlegs
2 Marbled Godwits
1 Black Turnstone
7 Sanderlings
640+ Western Sandpipers
210+ Least Sandpipers
1 Baird's Sandpiper
37+ Pectoral Sandpipers
1 Sharp-tailed Sandpiper
3 Dunlin
4 Ruffs
4 Long-billed Dowitchers
3 Wilson's Snipes
2 Red-necked Phalaropes
2 Violet-green Swallows
45+ Am.Pipits
27 Lapland Longspurs

Earlier in the day at Damon Point at 11:45am we walked in steady rain to the Damon Point"pond",which yielded a few notable highlights for our efforts including a nice gathering of golden plovers at the east end of the pond that contained 14 Pacific Golden Plovers and 1 Am.Golden Plover. All the bird were juvenile birds,except for one individual Pacific Golden Plover that was in remaining alternate plumage.Other highlights at this location included the following:

1 Northern Harrier
10 Black-bellied Plovers
12 Semipalmated Plovers
5 Western Sandpipers
8 Least Sandpipers
6 Short-billed Dowitchers
2 "Streaked"Horned Larks
4 Lapland Longspurs


After birding the Oyhut Wildlife Area we were rejoined by Stefan Schlick,who partially joined us as we checked the ocean beaches south of Butter Clam Street. A generous, thorough walk was eventually made between 5pm-6:45pm from that location to the Ocean Shores Jetty,which produced large numbers of roosting shorebirds including the following species:

550+ Black-bellied Plovers
1 Pacific Golden Plover
1 Am.Golden Plover
1 Semipalmated Plover
3 Black Turnstones(Ocean Shores Jetty)
5 Red Knots
200+ Sanderlings
6,500+ Western Sandpipers
23 Dunlin
31 Short-billed Dowitchers

A Peregrine Falcon was also observed at this location that pursued vast groups of Western Sandpipers north of Butter Clam Street and a calling Ring-necked Pheasant was heard from the vast dune areas along Marine View Drive.


Good birding,

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