Subject: [Tweeters] TAS/BHAS field trip to Dash Point and beyond
Date: Nov 26 17:35:47 2005
From: Ruth and/or Patrick Sullivan - godwit at worldnet.att.net


Hello Tweets,

Today we lead a combined Tahoma Audubon/Black Hills Audubon Society field trip to the Dash Point area with exceptional weather with a total of 13 participants and 76 species. We encountered no rarities,but just an overall good assortment diversty wise for everyone considering our great conditions! The rain held off all day until on our way home! Our trip primarily began in the Dumas Bay area of King Co.,as we worked our way back slowly from several waterfront locations via S.R.509 to 11th Street. The beginning of the day was superb for passerines at several locations,including near Dumas Bay and again at the upper bluff area of Dash Point State Park. Continuing west back into Pierce Co. we stopped and thoroughly scoped the open water off the Dash Point public fishing pier. With some hopes of any alcids and other waterbirds our wishes turned uneventful with continued very low numbers noted from all the waterfront locations we checked all day. We wonder where have all the alcids and other waterbirds have gone! It seems better feeding lies somewhere else other than in Pierce Co.! Our only alcids of the day were small scattered groups noted between Dash Point State Park and the Brown's Point Lighthouse Park and only 2 Pigeon Guillemots for the day! Red-necked Grebes and Horned Grebes were most abundant at almost every waterfront locations and we encountered relatively good numbers of Red-tailed Hawks and Bald Eagles throughout the day from several scattered locations.

We stopped at the Browns Point Lighthouse Pak,where we first scoped the open water with great close looks at a fairly cooperative Pacific Loon with an additional 8 birds noted well offshore. After a thorough scoping we at lunch,then continued southward along Marine View Dive(S.R.509)by checking the near shore waterway from several vantage pull-offs.
>From our second pull-off we located a distant male Eurasian Wigeon, 2 Am.Coots,1 Spotted Sandpiper,15+ Least Sandpipers, and about 10 Black Turnstones,as our main highlights. We continued down to 11th Street,where we located another nice male Eurasian Wigeon,our first adult Thayer's gull of the day and an assortment of waterfowl. The remainder of the afternoon was spent with a short visit at the Gog-le-hi-te Wetland along Lincoln Ave.,which borders the Puyallup River. Here,we obtained good comparisons amongst several Thayer's Gulls,2 Herring Gulls and a very large numbers of other Larus gulls. Most of the largest concentrations were confined to rooftops immediately east of the rendering plant just east of the Gog-le-hi-te Wetland. Our last stop of the day was made along the entire portion of Ruston Way,where conditions were very slow and fairly unproductive.


A list of additional noteworthy species encountered during the field trip included the following:


Red-throated Loon
2 flying high over Dumas Bay
2 off the Dash Point public fishing pier
3 at Brown's Point Lighthouse Park
1 along Ruston Way

Sharp-shinned Hawk
4 total birds noted from scattered locations

Merlin
1 near the Brown's Point Lighthouse Park

Peregrine Falcon
1 adult perched on the 11th Street bridge near downtown Tacoma

Anna's Hummingbird
1 near Dumas Bay
1 at Dash Point State Park
1 at the Brown's Point Lighthouse Park

Pileated Woodpecker
1 calling bird near Dumas Bay

Western Scrub Jay
2 near the Hwy.512/Lakewood Park and Ride

Hermit Thrush
2-3 birds along a brushy hillside along S.R.509 just south of the Chinook Landing Marina

Cedar Waxwing
1 at the above location(with 10+ Yellow-rumped Warblers nearby)

Hutton's Vireo
1 at Dash Point State Park

Townsend's Warbler
3 at Dash Point State Park

Lincoln's Sparrow
3 in brushy area near Dumas Bay



Good birding,

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