Hi Tweets,

Today Barbara and I did the south side of Grays Harbor and covered some of the main spots south to Tokeland. Weather was mostly overcast early with temps in the upper 50s, changing to scattered clouds with temps up to 70 degrees. Our first stop was about six blocks from our home in Seattle, where an adult male Cooper's Hawk perched at the corner of California Avenue and Hill Street.

Our next stop was the marsh at Schouweiler Road off State Hwy 8/US 12 near Elma. (We were surprised to hear gunfire south of the swamp near the Chehalis River, and just before we left a hunter drove up with a dog in the back of his pickup. He seemed surprised to see us there and avoided us by going around his truck and standing on the other side until we left. Don't know if there's a hunting season now, or just poaching season.)

Species present:
Pied-billed Grebe (4 seen)
Green Heron
Osprey (one young bird calling from the nest)
Rock Pigeon
Northern Flicker (2 seen)
Belted Kingfisher
Barn Swallow (c. 6 overhead)
Steller's Jay
Swainson's Thrush (one heard)
American Robin (2 seen)
Song Sparrow (1 heard)

We drove part of the Brady Loop Road, finding the standard starlings, Brewer's Blackbirds, a dozen Red-winged Blackbirds, and House Sparrows. We also saw about 20 Canada Geese, 1 Red-tailed Hawk, an American Kestrel, 50+ Violet Green, 2 Northern Rough-winged, 6+ Cliff, and 50+ Barn Swallows. Just east of Aberdeen we saw a Pileated Woodpecker flying over US 12.

At Bottle Beach we spent about 90 minutes waiting for high tide, and watching hundreds of dabbling ducks (lots of Mallards and Northern Pintails) fly past to a shallow feeding area to the east. The birding was decent, but there weren't lots of birds because high tide wasn't very high:

Great Blue Heron -- 2 flying past
Brown Pelican -- 2
Peregrine Falcon -- 1 low overhead
Comon Loon -- 1 well offshore
Semipalmated Plover -- 10+
Marbled Godwit -- 1 flying past
Greater Yellowlegs -- 1 overhead
Ruddy Turnstone -- 10
Black Turnstone -- 2
Western Sandpiper -- 100+
Least Sandpiper -- 20+
Dowitcher sp. (likely Short-billed?) -- 200+ flying past
Ring-billed Gull 20+
Caspian Tern

We ate lunch at the west unit of Twin Harbors State Park. Apart from 50+ crows, we saw only a Golden-crowned Kinglet and a few Black-capped Chickadees. At Westport we looked off the observation platform near the harbor:

Brown Pelican -- 100+ on harbor rocks and over the channel
Brandt's Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
Heermann's Gull -- 30+ present (one landed on a pelican in front of us)
Glaucous-winged & "Olympic" Gulls
Common Murre -- 2
Pigeon Guillemot -- 6

In the yard of our friends' home near Grayland we saw a Ring-necked Pheasant, Black-capped Chickadees, and a young Spotted Towhee. At Midway Beach we found Savannah Sparrows in the grass and 2 Snowy Plovers seemingly incubating eggs (while three truckloads of people drove on the closed beach, close to where the two birds were located). All the while hundreds of gulls streamed south to loaf at North Cove.

At Tokeland we found the following:

Turkey Vulture -- two over casino
Willet -- 10 near harbor
Whimbrel -- 10+ near harbor and on mudflats
Marbled Godwit -- 200+ on harbor rocks and mudflats
Heermann's Gull -- 50+ in harbor

Total species seen: 60

Common Loon
Pied-billed Grebe
Brown Pelican
Brandt's Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Green Heron
Canada Goose
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon
Ring-necked Pheasant
Semipalmated Plover
Snowy Plover
Short-billed Dowitcher
Marbled Godwit
Whimbrel
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Ruddy Turnstone
Black Turnstone
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Heermann's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Western Gull
Caspian Tern
Common Murre
Pigeon Guillemot
Rock Pigeon
Band-tailed Pigeon
Belted Kingfisher
Northern Flicker
Pileated Woodpecker
Violet-green Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Swainson's Thrush
American Robin
Black-capped Chickadee
Steller's Jay
American Crow
European Starling
Spotted Towhee
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Paul Webster
Seattle
paul.websterATcomcast.net