Tweeters,



Sorry for the delay in posting. Had a pretty good day around Pacific and
Grays Harbor counties on Saturday, after the canceled Westport pelagic trip.
I didn?t see the Curlew Sandpiper at Bottle Beach (should have stuck around
for the rising tide), or the Bar-tailed Godwit at Tokeland. But I did have
good numbers of shorebirds all over, and a decent passerine movement.



Best bird of the day was a Say?s Phoebe at the gate at Midway Beach Road.
It flew about for a few minutes, perching on posts and dropping to the
ground, then gradually made its way south down the beach. It was also
enjoyed by visiting birders from Calgary and Delaware, who I don?t think
realized just how unusual it was there.



>From the boat, heading out from Westport, we saw one Wandering Tattler, one
Surfbird, a few Black Turnstones, and a few Black-legged Kittiwakes along
the Westport Jetty. We also had a few Sooty Shearwaters, a Bonaparte?s
Gull, 5 Red-necked Phalaropes, one Rhinoceros Auklet, and a Pomarine Jaeger
around the mouth of the harbor.



In Tokeland, I saw 7 Whimbrel and 23 Long-billed Curlews on the beach at 7th
Street. The big flock of Marbled Godwits was out at the marina with about
10 Willets and one Short-billed Dowitcher, but I couldn?t see any
Bar-taileds among them.



Midway Beach had 5 American Pipits, many hundreds of Sanderlings, and the
above-mentioned Say?s Phoebe. I walked the edge of the vegetation along
beach for a half hour, but didn?t find any Snowy Plovers. A small flock of
passerines along Midway Beach Road included 4 Black-throated Gray and 2
Townsend?s warblers.



I was surprised to find 3 three Hooded Mergansers dabbling in a pond in the
cranberry bogs east of Midway Beach ? I wasn?t expecting to see much
birdlife in those ponds.



I spent about 1 ? hours at Bottle Beach, studying some very nice close-up
shorebirds. Highlights were a Pectoral Sandpiper, a nice diversity of
Black-bellied Plover plumages, and a juvenile Semipalmated Sandpiper with
the Westerns and Leasts.. There were a few Lincoln?s Sparrows in the shrubs
along the path to the beach.



My last stop of the day was the Hoquiam Sewage Treatment Ponds. I saw some
of the same birds the Sullivans did, including Greater Scaup, Barrow?s
Goldeneye, and 5 Purple Martins among a large flock of Barn Swallows. Also
with these Barn Swallows was a gorgeous leucistic Barn Swallow. The bird
was almost totally white, with some brown on the nape and sides of the rump
and an orange wash to the throat, breast, and belly. It was a juvenile ?
the gape was still visible ? and it seemed to be getting harassed a bit by
the other, more normal-looking swallows. A very cool-looking bird ?
watching a white swallow flying around was definitely a highlight of the
day.



All in all a great day, with 19 species of shorebirds and numerous other
highlights. This is the second day I?ve spent birding this area after a
canceled Westport pelagic, and both have yielded some excellent birds. I
think I need to start hitting the coast more often when the wind is up and
the weather?s a bit nasty.



Good birding.



Matt Dufort

Seattle, WA

zeledonia at yahoo.com