Hi Tweets,

On 9/4, Heather and I hiked out to the end of Damon Point at Ocean Shores,
from 2:00pm - 6:00pm, with high tide at 2:30pm. We found moderate numbers
of shorebirds, with one large group of about 500 Western Sandpipers and the
very end of the spit.

The highlight of the hike was an adult, male PACIFIC GOLDEN-PLOVER. The
upperparts were at about 80% of breeding plumage with strong black front
and the thin white neck stripe running vertically to the chest and then
continuing along the flank. The belly was mostly molted to white, with
some black feathers still remaining. Even at the end of the season, it is
still a striking bird.

On the bayside of the end of the spit were 3 RED KNOTS in juvenile plumage.
They walked up to within 10' of us and we could see dark bands at the ends
of the upperpart feathers, with a little white fringe at the very end.
They also had the habit of standing in the water up to their bellies, even
when we first spotted them at a distance. Of course, the fact that there
was both an imm. PEREGRINE FALCON and an imm. MERLIN, working the spit
probably added some caution to their behavior.

We rounded out the shorebirds with a small flock of Semipalmated Plovers
and a dozen Least Sandpipers scattered around the margins of the sink.

It was a beautiful day for a walk on the beach.

Good Birding,

Marcus Roening
Tacoma, WA
marcus.d.roening at gsk.com