Hello Tweets,

Today we birded at Ocean Shores primarily at the Ocean Shores Jetty,the Ocean Shores STP and a short visit made at Damon Point. Our trip was inspired by Bill Shelmerdine's recent posting of his visit to the Ocean Shores Jetty! The day remained very windy and wet with probably the best conditions during our visit to the Ocean Shores Jetty and the Ocean Shores STP. Heavy waves crashed over the main portion of the jetty and the remains of muscles were evident along the immediate shoreline near the jetty,which many gulls and shorebirds foraged upon. Despite the bad weather we actually had a nice assortment of seasonal birds and most areas that visited were highly flooded,especially the Oyhut Wildlife Area and Damon Point. Equipped with our rain suites we braved the winds and steady rain and at times the rain came down sideways. Our visit to the Ocean Shores Jetty between 10:30am-12:30pm was the most productive and conditions were fair enough to make a thorough search of the heavy seas. Our most noteworthy highlights follow from this location:

12 Red-throated Loons
3 Pacific Loons
13 Western Grebes
5 Short-tailed Shearwaters
3 Northern Fulmars
4 Fork-tailed Storm Petrel
2 Leach's Storm Petrels
33 Brown Pelicans
17 Semipalmated Plovers
2 Black Turnstones
30 Sanderlings
1 Western Sandpiper
40 Dunlin
1 Wilson's Snipe
1 Pomarine Jaeger(immature light morph bird observed chasing a group of 5 Bonaparte's Gulls approximately 30 yards south of the jetty and proceeding south towards the Westport Jetty)
3 Heermann's Gulls
1 Herring Gull
5+ Black-legged Kittiwakes
2 Marbled Murrelets
4 Ancient Murrelets
2 Western Meadowlarks


After a wet,but worthwhile visit to the Ocean Shores Jetty we made a perimeter walk around the fenceline at the Ocean Shores STP . Conditions declined rapidly with stiffer winds and more increased rainfall,but we had our greatest diversity of birds at the southwest corner pond(all observed from outside the complex). Our best species here were a late Pectoral Sandpiper amongst a flock of 47 Long-billed Dowitchers and a single Surfbird that foraged loosely along the rocky edges of the pond amongst 8 Black Turnstones. This was our second personal record of Surfbird at the Ocean Shores STP,but we expect they probably occur more frequently,especially during heavy storms and most likely with Black Turnstones. Since areas at the Oyhut WA were persistently flooded we did not walk too far north of the tall fluorescent navigation tower along with the presence of a duck hunter.

Our final destination at Ocean Shores was made at Damon Point,where a short walk to the flooded Damon Point pond produced 4 "Streaked"Horned Larks,a single Am.Pipit and 1 Western Meadowlark. We found NO shorebirds at this location,except for small flocks of Dunlin flying by to unknown locations.

Our last stop of the day was made within the Brady-Elma area as light conditions greatly declined and the wet weather persisted. We drove the entire Brady Loop Rd. complex,then made a short visit to the stubble fields at Bill Goeres Farm along the western portion of Wenzel Slough Rd.(previously mentioned by Tim O'Brien). Our main highlights at these 2 locations included shorebirds due to increased flooded area,but a few additional species were also encountered including the following species:

2 Am.Kestrels along Brady Loop Rd.

35+ Back-bellied Plovers along the Brady Loop Rd. complex
70 Back-bellied Plovers at the Bill Goeres Farm along Wenzel Slough Rd.

70+ Dunlin along Brady Loop Rd.

7 Long-billed Dowitchers along the western portion of Brady Loop Rd.

1 Am.Pipit and 17 Western Meadowlarks along the western portion of Brady Loop Rd.



Earlier in the day en route to the Hoquiam STP the adult Snow Goose(with large numbers of Cackling Geese observed flying overhead)was again present in a corn stubble field just east of the Nisqually NWR along I-5 in Thurston Co.

The Hoquiam STP was full of waterfowl including the Long-tailed Duck previously reported by Paul Cozens was again present and appears to be the same individual bird we originally observed at this location on the 16th of October. Other notable species from this location included a single Common Loon, 15 Canvasbacks, 8 Surf Scoters, 18 Buffleheads, 9 Hooded Mergansers, 5 Red-breasted Mergansers, and 3 Bonaparte's Gulls.


Other highlights encountered during the day to and from destinations includes the following:

1 Cooper's Hawk near the Oyhut Wildlife Area at Ocean Shores
1 Merlin along Hwy.12 at Montesano
1 Peregrine Falcon along Lakewood Drive in Lakewood,Pierce Co.
5 Mourning Dove along Hwy.12 at Brady
1 Western Scrub Jay along Hwy.12 at Elma,1 bird along Emerson Ave. at Hoquiam and 1 bird at the intersection of Keys and Wenzel Slough Rd. near Satsop



Good birding,

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