Subject: [Tweeters] Franklin's Gull at Ocean Shores 8-21-05
Date: Aug 22 10:21:41 2005
From: Ruth and/or Patrick Sullivan - godwit at worldnet.att.net


Hello Tweets,

Yesterday(August 21st)Steve Metz and my mother and I birded the general Ocean Shores region along with a short morning visit to the Johns River WRA. The weather was great for birding all day with mostly cloudy skies with some partial clearing at times. Our main efforts were made searching for shorebirds,which seemed very few during the entire day with the largest concentrations noted along the outer beaches at Ocean Shores. Here, we observed 2-3 separate flocks of juvenile Western Sandpipers that eventually joined to make one very large flock of 7-8,000+ birds. The birds were very nervous at times,but eventually settled along the tide line when crowds of people,etc were fewest. Away from this location shorebird numbers were very few at other checked locations along with the extremely large gull numbers we personally noted over the past 2 weeks at Ocean Shores. There were only a few scattered gull flocks observed at a few Ocean Shores locations with far less Brown Pelicans also noted than in past weeks. While scoping through one of these gulls flocks(containing Heermann's,California and Glaucous-winged/Western Gulls)along the outer beaches(accessed from Butter Clam Street)we located a single Franklin's Gull,which was our personal first for Ocean Shores,as well as our first for the season! The bird was first very nervous and foraged in the surf with other gulls,as well as further offshore,but eventually settled onto the open,dry sandy beaches with other gulls,where we obtained some nice photos at close range. On a few occasions while watching he bird it became very aggressive towards the other gulls by "nipping" at them,which was interesting to watch! The bird was in juvenile plumage molting into 1st winter plumage due to the amount of gray on the upper back,which was very distinctive at many angles. The bird remained within a large flock of resting gulls until we left it at 3:15pm,as we continued onto other locations. Our first Herring Gull of the season was also noted while scoping further through the gull flocks at this location.

Our other highlights of the day were 2 very cooperative Semipalmated Sandpipers at the Ocean Shores STP and a single adult Parasitic Jaeger that ended our day list flying along the shoreline harassing a small gull flock,etc. along the outer beaches at Ocean Shores. An injured adult Western Sandpiper was observed at the Ocean Shores STP and foraged alone with a broken wing along the edges of one of the sewage ponds. We also encountered Pectoral Sandpipers from 2 locations during the day including 5 birds at the Johns River WRA and 3 birds a the Ocean Shores STP. Small flocks of migrating waterfowl were observed flying overhead at a few locations at Ocean Shores consisting of Green-winged Teal,Northern Pintail,and Northern Shovelers. We have placed 21 new photos onto our website taken yesterday of some of our highlights,which can be viewed at the following link: http://www.pbase.com/godwit/august05photos/

A list of out other key highlights for the day included the following:

Common Loon
1 at the Oyhut Wildlife Area
1 flying over Damon Point

Pacific Loon
2 at the Oyhut WA

Great Egret
1 at the Johns River WRA

Cinnamon Teal
24 at the Johns River WRA

Am.Wigeon
1 at the Ocean Shores STP

Bufflehead
1 female at the Johns River WRA

Hooded Merganser
4 at the Johns River WRA
2 at the Ocean Shores STP
2 at the Oyhut WA

Red-breasted Merganser
7 at the Oyhut WA(with 8 nearby Common Mergansers)
6 at Damon Point

Turkey Vulture
2 at the Oyhut WA
2 along Hwy.12 near Brady

Osprey
1 at the Oyhut WA/Damon Point

Northern Harrier
3 at the Oyhut WA
1 at Damon Point

Sharp-shinned Hawk
1 at Ocean Shores

Cooper's Hawk
1 near the Ocean Shores STP

Peregrine Falcon
2 at Damon Pont

Ring-necked Pheasant
2 families between Marine View Drive at Ocean Shores and the Ocean Shores STP

Semipalmated Plover
8 at the Johns River WRA
9 at the Oyhut WA
6 at Damon Point

Greater Yellowlegs
7 at the Johns River WRA
3 at Damon Point

Lesser Yellowlegs
2 at the Johns River WRA
1 at the Ocean Shores STP

Wandering Tattler
7-8 at the Ocean Shores Jetty

Ruddy Turnstone
1 at the Ocean Shores Jetty(with 4-5 Black Turnstones and 9 Surfbirds)

Red Knot
3+ with 33 Black-bellied Plovers and 15 Short-billed Dowitchers along the outer beaches at Ocean Shores

Sanderling
70+ along the outer beaches at Ocean Shores

Dunlin
1 along the outer beaches at Ocean Shores

Long-billed Dowitcher
4 at the Johns River WRA
2 at the Ocean Shores STP

Wilson's Snipe
1 at the Johns River WRA

Bonaparte's Gull
6 at the Oyhut WA
5 at Damon Point

Mourning Dove
1 at the Ocean Shores STP(noteworthy for location)

Purple Martin
2 birds along S.R.105 at Aberdeen

Western Scrub Jay
1 along Hwy.12 at Elma
2 along Hwy.12 at Satsop



Mammals:

17+ Nutria at the Johns River WRA
Black-tailed Deer and Harbor Seals at Ocean Shores
2 Raccoons along S.R.109 at Bowerman Basin



Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
Fircrest,WA
godwitworldnet.att.net