Hello Tweets,

This afternoon while walking the upper beach area north from the end of Midway Beach Rd. in Pacific Co. at 4:30pm we located a single Buff-breasted Sandpiper. We were joined by Mark Stackhouse and his birding tour group,where the bird was first observed in flight amongst a roaming flock of Am.Pipits. The bird was very nervous and alert and would occasionally land then fly up again then landed back down into beach vegetation. Eventually the bird settled and became more approachable for photographs. It was definitely a nice bird to see at this location and one that we had not fully anticipated on! The bird remained by itself during the latter portion of the observation,as it ran at times over the open sandy areas into beach vegetation. After watching the Buff-breasted Sandpiper for 30 minutes we walked the open beaches to the west,then continued south along the crest of the open sandy beaches and were unsuccessful in locating any Snowy Plovers.

Earlier in the afternoon we relocated the juvenile Bar-tailed Godwit previously reported yesterday by Matt Bartels at the Tokeland Marina. We arrived to the marina at 2:40pm during incoming tide,where the bird was immediately located in good viewing amongst a flock of 400+ Marbled Godwits. The entire flock of shorebirds all rested calmly along the southern most wooden dock within the marina and the Bar-tailed Godwit seemed to favor the west portion of that dock.. Near the first portion of our observations the bird was more easily visible and at times separated itself from the main flock of birds,but it never left the wooden dock. A times the bird was more concealed,but you could somewhat easily separate he bird from the larger,more buffier Marbled Godwits by it's more overall browner plumage,brown cap contrasting to the white supercillium and strong contrasting mantle pattern. The underparts when viewed best revealed a very light brown tinge being palest on the undertail coverts,where colors appeared almost white. Near the end of our observation of the bird at 4:15pm the bird moved further within the tight group of Marbled Godwits on the wooden dock and only revealed it's head at times otherwise it rested calmly amongst the large group of shorebirds. The bird during this time was observed by several other birders including Mark Stackhouse,who indicated to us that the bird he observed at Ocean Shores on the 8th of September was much paler overall,so most likely two separate individual birds.

Away from these two highlights of the day we made a visit to Bottle Beach during incoming tide at 12:30pm,where a single juvenile Am.Golden Plover was observed amongst a flock of 350+ Black-bellied Plovers. 2 Pectoral Sandpipers were also noted at this location and seemed somewhat out of "normal"habitat foraging amongst the other shorebirds out on the open mudflats. Other highlights noted during the day included the following:

Common Loon
3 at Tokeland

Great Egret
7 along S.R.105(Bay City)at the mouth of the Elk River

Turkey Vulture
1 along Hwy.12 at Elma
1 along Hwy.12 at Montesano
2 at Bottle Beach
1 along S.R.105 north of Grayland
8 at Tokeland

Northern Harrier
3 at Midway Beach Rd.

Sharp-shinned Hawk
1 along S.R.105 west of Aberdeen

Cooper's Hawk
1 at Midway Beach Rd.

Peregrine Falcon
1 adult at Bottle Beach

Semipalmated Plover
57+ at Bottle Beach

Greater Yellowlegs
1 at the Tokeland Marina

Willet
14 at the Tokeland Marina

Whimbrel
1 at Bottle Beach
7 at the Tokeland Marina

Western Sandpiper
670+ at Bottle Beach

Short-billed Dowitcher
4 at Bottle Beach

Mew Gull
1 at Bottle Beach

Herring Gull
1 along S.R.105 at North Cove

Pileated Woodpecker
1 along Hwy.8 at MP 14.5 west of Summit Lake,Thurston Co.

Western Scrub Jay**noteworthy locations**
1 flying west along S.R.105 at MP 47(west of Aberdeen)
1 at Tokeland(observed along 7th Ave. north of he Bayshore RV Park)

"Streaked"Horned Lark
2 at Midway Beach Rd.

Am.Pipit
40+ at Midway Beach Rd.

Yellow Warbler
2 at Bottle Beach

"Sooty"Fox Sparrow
3 at Bottle Beach
1 at North Cove

Golden-crowned Sparrow
4 a Bottle Beach

Purple Finch
5 at Bottle Beach


Dragonfly species of note included the following:

Paddle-tailed Darner
Common Whitetail(1 at Bottle Beach)
meadowhawk species



Good birding,

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