Hello Tweets,NW Inlanders and OBOLers,

The juvenile Curlew Sandpiper was again present and well observed yesterday at Bottle Beach,Grays Harbor Co.(in Washington State)during an outgoing tide by 9 birders until 12:30pm. Jason Paulios already wrote an account onto Tweeters of yesterday morning's account on the bird,but we only wish to add our personal observations. We arrived at 10:25am at Bottle Beach and quickly made the walk along the trail out to the open mudflats and were joined by Keith Brady and Jason Paulios,as well as Bart Whelton and Stefan Schlick,who were all scoping the bird from separate angles. The lighting was perfect with sunlight to our backs and we soon scoped the bird as it very actively foraged near the water's edge amongst a scattered flock of Western Sandpipers. The bird's larger size was clearly evident,but at times it was somewhat difficult to locate the bird when it moved behind and amongst short pilings and stumps within the mudflats. We all continued watching the bird from a safe distance,as it continued foraging almost entirely during our entire observation. The bird seemed to feed much more than all the other shorebirds including nearby Black-bellied Plovers and Sanderlings. The bird's bill length seemed to vary from different angles depending on the light,but overall was a fairly,thin black drooping bill and definitely not deeply curved. The grayish plumage of the bird was nearly the same as the nearby Western Sandpipers,but with a slight buffy tinge to the upper breast and a pale brown cap and a white supercillium. In flight the obvious white rump was clearly evident,as well as the white central wing stripe along he upper wing and white underwings. The grayish-brown mantle pattern showed the most contrast with a moderate scaly appearance contrasting to completely white underparts and the bird also showed a relatively long-winged appearance.The bird flew occasionally during our observation,but only when the other shorebirds flew around,but within several minutes the bird was soon relocated. The legs appeared darkish,but perhaps due to the bird being in the mud the entire time.

After all the other birders left we continued watching the bird at various distances until 12:30pm,where we last saw the bird flying off northward with scattered flocks of Black-bellied Plovers and Western Sandpipers towards an offshore island in South Bay. After birding the Tokeland area we returned to Bottle Beach at 4pm,where we attempted to relocate the Curlew Sandpiper with 4 other birders. During this time we obtained nice looks at a bright juvenile Bar-tailed Godwit,as well as a juvenile Red Knot. The Bar-tailed Godwit is clearly a different bird than the duller,browner bird at the Tokeland Marina and it seemed to nearly match the size of several nearby Black-bellied Plovers. We all walked out onto the mudflats as the tide moved slowly in and thoroughly scoped through flocks of Black-bellied Plovers and Western Sandpipers up until 6:45pm,but were unable to relocate the bird. We left the birders to continue their searches so perhaps the bird came in as the tide moved closer. We have placed 12 photos from different angles of the Curlew Sandpiper onto our website,along with 2 photos of the Bar-tailed Godwit at Bottle Beach. Our photos of both of these birds can be viewed at the following link: http://www.pbase.com/godwit/september05photos/


The juvenile Bar-tailed Godwit was again present at the Tokeland Marina between 1pm-2:30pm amongst the large Marbled Godwit flock,where they all rested on the wooden dock within the southern portion of the marina,then foraged on the partially exposed mudflats. Up to 15 Willet and 6 Whimbrels were also present,where a portion of those birds resting on the wooden dock next to the large white building just south of the marina. A thorough scoping of Willapa Bay produced 4 Common Loons up to 4 distant Horned Grebes.

Other noteworthy sightings during our visit to the Bottle Beach-Tokeland area included the following:

Turkey Vulture
4 along Hwy.12 at Satsop
4 at Tokeland

Sharp-shinned Hawk
1 along S.R.105 at Grayland

Peregrine Falcon
1 adult at Bottle Beach

Black-bellied Plover
340+ at Bottle Beach

Semipalmated Plover
75+ at Bottle Beach

Greater Yellowlegs
1 at Bottle Beach

Long-billed Curlew
23 at Tokeland(Graveyard Spit)

Black Turnstone
5 at Bottle Beach

Short-billed Dowitcher
8+ at Bottle Beach

Long-billed Dowitcher
4-5 at Bottle Beach

Willow Flycatcher
1 at Bottle Beach

Hammond's Flycatcher
1 at Bottle Beach

"Streaked"Horned Lark
5 at Midway Beach Rd.

Violet-green Swallow
65+ perched on telephone wires along S.R.8 at the Grays Harbor-Thurston Co. line

Am.Pipit
8 at Bottle Beach
40+ at Midway Beach Rd.

Yellow Warbler
2 at Bottle Beach

Townsend's Warbler
1 at Bottle Beach

"Sooty"Fox Sparrow
5 at Bottle Beach

Lincoln's Sparrows
4 at Bottle Beach

Golden-crowned Sparrow
5 at Bottle Beach

Purple Finch
1 a Bottle Beach



Good birding,

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