Subject: [Tweeters] 3 Bar-tailed Godwits at Tokeland/Westport
Date: Oct 4 22:00:51 2005
From: Ruth and/or Patrick Sullivan - godwit at worldnet.att.net


Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I ventured back over to the Westport area along with birding the Tokeland area this evening during outgoing tide. Upon arriving at the eastern portion of the Westport Marina at 12:15pm the juvenile Hudsonian Godwit was easily viewed from the end of Float 21,as I roosted amongst a group of 60 Marbled Godwits. The Hudsonian Godwit remained at this location until we left it at 1:30pm to pursue other nearby areas for large shorebirds. We located a single juvenile Bar-tailed Godwit amongst a large flock of other large shorebirds that contained 50 Long-billed Curlews and 75 additional Marbled Godwits,which were all viewed along a beach area near the marina. While walking back from a beach walk a single juvenile Gyrfalcon was observed flying overhead from the north,then eventually pursued a small group of Northern Pintail in a nearby estuary near the Westport Airport. The bird's overall size was stocky/bulky and the flight pattern was fairly slow,but powerful as distinctive habits for this species. The overall plumage of the bird,as briefly noted from below was described as having bold,heavy streaking on the breast with an overall dark brown plumage. The wings were bulky and the tail was definitely long and the bird was never relocated after it dropped down beyond our field of views,so it could show up almost anywhere with the plentiful supply of waterfowl available. This is very likely the same individual bird than previously reported over this past weekend at Ocean Shores by Gary Fredricks,but it could very well be a different bird too.Other noteworthy sightings from he general Westport Marina area included the following:

1 male Black Scoter
25 Common Loons
5 Western Grebes
120+ Brown Pelicans
2 Black Turnstones
1 Western Sandpiper
1 Pectoral Sandpiper
4 Am.Pipits
1 Western Meadowlark

Before arriving at Westport earlier in the day a group of 10 Great Egrets were noted north of S.R.105 west of the Elk River(Bay City)bridge with 2 additional birds noted along the east Westport waterfront just south of the Westport Airport.

After birding the Westport vicinity we traveled south towards Tokeland with a quick stop made along the beaches south of Warrenton-Cannery Rd. The only highlights at this location included a single Merlin perched atop a tree along S.R.105 a Grayland and a single Semipalmated Plover along the beach shoreline near Washaway Beach. Our final stop of the day was made at the Tokeland Marina after 5pm,where we located 2 juvenile Bar-tailed Godwits amongst a large flock of 900+ Marbled Godwits. One of the Bar-tailed Godwits was observed actively feeding along a portion of the exposed mudflats immediately south of the marina,while the other Bar-tailed Godwit remained resting with the main flock of Marbled Godwits as they lined the entire wooden dock,as well as along the immediate shoreline within the marina. Anyhow, we observed 3 separate Bar-tailed Godwits for the day!

Other species noted at Tokeland included the following:

30 Common Loons
16 Willets
2 Whimbrel
15 Long-billed Curlews and 8 Caspian Terns(Graveyard Spit)


We shall place many photos taken from yesterday and today onto our website tomorrow for your viewing!



Good birding,

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