Hello Tweets,

This afternoon while birding the Satsop-Brady area of eastern Grays Harbor Co. Joe Higbee and my mother and I located a female Ruff(Reeve)in a partially flooded stubble field at the intersection of Foster and Brady Loop Rd. within the Brady Loop Rd. complex. The bird was first detected roosting with it's head tucked in amongst a small tight flock of Dunlin at 1pm,as it allowed limited distant scoping views as we stood along Foster Rd. looking west. The bird overall quite buffy overall with a distinctive scaly-backed appearance and was slightly larger than the nearby Dunlin,which would indicate a female bird. The bird foraged along the muddy edges of the flooded areas,but at times foraged by itself until we left the location at 2pm. Our photos are mainly for proof and thanks to Joe for allowing us to use his digital camera since our current camera wouldn't have reached the distant and have the quality. Anyhow, it was a great bird to see and it in unlikely to know if it shall remain. This is our second spring record of Ruff in Washington away from the juvenile bird that overwintered in the Elma-Brady area during 2002-2003.

We had initially joined Joe along Keys Rd. prior to birding along Brady Loop Rd.,as we attempted two times during the day to search for the "Thick-billed"Fox Sparrow with no luck today. There were however 2-3 "Sooty"Fox Sparrows remaining at this location with minimal effort and we located up to 7 birds yesterday. The weather was very unstable with scattered heavy rain showers with even more threats of bad weather nearby,but at times conditions were dry with some wind. During our afternoon visit along keys Rd. at 2:15pm we did locate a group of 8 Sandhill Cranes heard and seen flying high overhead,as they drifted in broken clouds east to west. Continuing large groups of Band-tailed Pigeons continue to gather along Keys Rd. with about 80 birds tallied today and up to 3 Common Yellowthroats and a single Orange-crowned Warbler present in the a bramble thicket that hosted the "Thick-billed"Fox Sparrow in past visits.

Our visit to the Brady Loop Rd. hosted additional species away from the Ruff included the following species:

good numbers of migrating Cackling/Canada Geese noted flying fairly high overhead,as well as along nearby Keys Rd. from east to west
4 Turkey Vultures
1 Osprey
1 Northern Harrier
4 Am.Kestrels
3 Ring-necked Pheasants
32 Black-bellied Plovers
18 Greater Yellowlegs
40 Dunlin
2 Wilson's Snipe
2 Barn Swallows
3 Cliff Swallows
3 Western Scrub Jays
5 Yellow-rumped Warblers
3 Savannah Sparrows
2"Sooty"Fox Sparrow

Mammals:

1 River Otter observed running across the western portion of Brady Loop Rd. closest to the Chehalis River


On our way home my mother and I made a noteworthy stop at the Schouweiler Rd. wetland near Elma at 3pm with much of the flooded areas previously encountered having greatly declined. Our main highlight at this location was our first personal dragonflies of the season. We observed up to 5 Swift Forktails along the paved wheelchair trail that leads from the parking area to a duck blind. We figure due to the warm,sunny conditions they had just emerged and it was a welcome sight for early April! Of additional note at this same location was a Western Fence Lizard briefly observed at the edge of the gravel parking area. Up to 4 Northern Rough-winged Swallows were our only bird highlight that actively foraged over the open wetland area with Tree and Violet-green Swallows.

Other species noted in the general Elma-Brady area included the following species:

Turkey Vulture
3 along Keys Rd.

Osprey
1 at the Schouweiler Rd. wetland

Bald Eagle
2 adults along Brady Loop Rd.

Northern Harrier
2 along Keys Rd.
1 at the Schouweiler Rd. wetland

Rufous Hummingbird
2 males along Keys Rd.

Varied Thrush
4 along Simmons Rd.(accessed from the western portion of Brady Loop Rd.)

Purple Finch
1 singing bird along Keys Rd.


Our drive homeward was very slow in the Olympia area along I-5 with a constant downpour of hail/rain and snow before ending near Lacey!



Good birding,

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