Tweets,
]
Yesterday Fred Parent and I decided to take advantage of the nice
weather and see if we could locate the Red-Shouldered Hawk in Grays
Harbor NWR. While we were down there we decided to bird the area
using "Birding Washington" and recent Tweeters posts as a guide. We
arrived at Elma at sunup and heard the Trumpeter Swans before we saw
them because of thick fog. As the fog burned off we got good looks at
the Trumpeter and Tundra swans in the pond closest to the Elma
airport. From there we went along Brady Loop Rd which was very scenic
as the fields and trees were still covered in white frost. Highlights
of this leg were a White-Crowned Sparrow visiting a feeder at one of
the houses and several raptors. A short drive later we were at the
Hoquiam STP with close views of the lone SNOW GOOSE and scope views of
tons of Sanderlings and Dunlin in the mudflats. We left on our way
to Grays Harbor NWR when we discovered we were already there. We
drove up Paulsen Rd looking for the hawk but only saw a large number
of RTHA and a NOHA. We tried for a different angle by birding by the
side of Highway 109 which was not pleasant so we decided to move to
the quieter road by the Hoquiam STP. When we approached we saw Joe
Higbee who pointed out the hawk to us. We got great close up scope
views of the RED-SHOULDERED HAWK even though he was hiding in the
Alder Trees. After driving to Ocean Shores we decided to bird the
jetty before the sun would be in our eyes. It was surprisingly dead,
I guess the birds thought it was a nice day as well and were far out
to sea. We picked up a BLSC, SURF, and ROSA. From there we birded
the Oyhut WA and had a quick glimpse of a Ring-Necked Pheasant as it
fled the nearby construction of a house. Time was short so we birded
Damon PT and saw a RED-THROATED LOON just off the south beach. To end
the day we decided it was too late to get the Palm Warbler in the
McDonalds drive through so we went back to the jetty and watched a
great sunset. It isn't often we make it to the coast let alone on
such a great day. The sunset was great and it we neat to see
Sanderlings huddling together for the night. The full trip list is
below, sorry it is not in taxonomic order:

American Crow
Herring Gull
Bufflehead
Dark-Eyed Junco
Song Sparrow
Trumpeter Swan
Northern Flicker
Double-Crested Cormorant
Black-Capped Chickadee
Ring-Necked Duck
Northern Pintail
Tundra Swan
House Sparrow
House Finch
Brewer's Blackbird
Western Scrub-Jay
Red-Tailed Hawk
American Robin
Spotted Towhee
Red-Winged Blackbird
Steller's Jay
American Wigeon
Lesser Scaup
Golden-Crowned Sparrow
White-Crowned Sparrow
American Kestrel
Bald Eagle
Norther Harrier
Great Blue Heron
Rock Pigeon
Western Gull
Sanderling
Dunlin
Hooded Merganser
Northern Shoveler
Mallard
Glaucous-Winged Gull
Ruddy Duck
Gadwall
Canvasback
Cackling Goose
Canada Goose
Snow Goose
Ring-billed Gull
Greater Scaup
Killdeer
Red-Shouldered Hawk
Surfbird
Western Grebe
Surf Scoter
Black Turnstone
Surf Scoter
Black Scoter
Yellow-Rumped Warbler
Ring-Necked Pheasant
Pied-billed Grebe
White-Winged Scoter
Common Goldeneye
Red-Necked Grebe
Fox Sparrow
Red-Throated Loon
Rock Sandpiper

Cheers,
Aaron Martin
Seattle, WA
mailto: aamartin at gmail.com