Hello Tweets,

Today we enjoyed a nice Sunday afternoon birding in the Elma-Brady area of eastern Grays Harbor Co. and in the process located several noteworthy highlights. The weather was good for the most part with just a few scattered rain showers,but no wind. We covered areas beginning a Vance Creek Co. Park then extending west along Wenzel Slough Rd. to Keys Rd. near Satsop then onto the Brady Loop Rd. complex. Our last stop of the afternoon was made at the Schouweiler Rd. wetland,which yielded a few additional species for our day's list. We noticed that waterfowl numbers were again very scattered compared to our last visit to this area,but we did locate a few flocks and shorebirds were nearly non existent. A nice bramble path along Wakefield Rd. immediately south of Hwy.12 near Elma produced a good sparrow assortment to begin our day. Here,we "pished" out a nice gathering of both White and Golden-crowned Sparrows(with most birds being full adults),as well as several "Sooty"Fox Sparrows,Song Sparrows,Spotted Towhees and a single Lincoln's Sparrow. This location also yielded our first 2 Western Scrub Jays of the day,as well as a single Downy Woodpecker.

Our 1st main highlight of the day was a first-winter plumaged GLAUCOUS GULL along he western portion of Wenzel Slough Rd. amongst a scattered gull flock in a large stubble field on the Goere's farm property. This bird was a nice specimen and probably the same individual immature bird than we noted near this same exact location than on the 24th of March. The bird really stood out and kept active by preening and bathing in the partially flooded area,as well as forage with the other nearby gulls. The gull flock at this location was very limited and much smaller in size than our previous visit and we noticed an overall different diversity of gull species. We encountered up to 7 "rosy" Ring-billed Gulls that really stood out in the flock,as well as a single adult Herring Gull and a single BONAPARTE'S GULL,which of the latter bird was a nice gull species for the day for this location. The remainder of the gull species included small numbers of Glaucous-winged Gulls,California and Mew Gulls.

Our visit to Brady Loop Rd. was quite productive,where we drove he entire outer "loop" as well as along Foster Rd. with a brief walk at the fishing access area near the Chehalis River. Our main highlight along this route was 2 WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS observed together in lush green vegetation at the fishing access area with good numbers of other passerines nearby. Most areas along Brady Loop Rd. were quite desolate with few flooded areas,but spring rains should increase through the following weeks as migration continues. We have placed a few photos from species photographed today onto our website including the Glaucous Gull,Bonaparte's Gull,Western Scrub Jay,and rounding out the list with both Golden-crowned and Song Sparrow. These photos can be accessed at the following link for your viewing: http://www.pbase.com/godwit/recent_photos/


Other notable species encountered during the day at selected locations follows below:

Western Grebe
2 birds south of Wenzel Slough Rd. at Vance Creek Co. Park

Am.Bittern
1 calling bird at the Schouweiler Rd. wetland

TRUMPETER SWAN
1 lingering immature bird at a wetland area along the western portion of Wenzel Slough Rd.

Cackling Goose
30 birds along the western portion of Wenzel Slough Rd.

Wood Duck
1 pair along Brady Loop Rd.

Cinnamon Teal
1 pair along Foster Rd.(Brady Loop Rd. complex)

Eurasian Wigeon
3(2 males,1 female)along Foster Rd.

Ring-necked Duck
1 along Brady Loop Rd.
10 at the Schouweiler Rd. wetland

Greater Scaup(with 3 Lesser Scaup)
12 at Vance Creek Co. Park near Elma

Common Goldeneye
1 at the Schouweiler Rd. wetland

Turkey Vulture
4 along Wakefield Rd. near Elma
4 along Wenzel Slough Rd.
17 along Brady Loop Rd.
3 along Hwy.12 at Satsop

Osprey
3 birds along Wenzel Slough Rd.(of which 2 of these birds were noted at a regular nest site atop a dead snag,which is also visible from the Schouweiler Rd. wetland)
1 bird along Brady Loop Rd.

Bald Eagle
10(3 adults,7 immature birds)along Brady Loop Rd.

Northern Harrier
2 along Brady Loop Rd.

Am.Kestrel
3 along Brady Loop Rd.

Merlin
1 along Brady Loop Rd.

Peregrine Falcon
1 flying along Wakefield Rd. near Elma

Virginia Rail
2 calling birds at a wetland along Wenzel Slough Rd.
4 calling birds at the Schouweiler Rd. wetland

Greater Yellowlegs
2 along Brady Loop Rd.

Wilson's Snipe
2 calling birds at a wetland along Wenzel Slough Rd.
5 at the Schouweiler Rd. wetland

CASPIAN TERN
2 flying along the western portion of Wenzel Slough Rd.
2 flying along Brady Loop Rd.

Rufous Hummingbird
2 along Brady Loop Rd.

Hairy Woodpecker
1 along Brady Loop Rd.

Pileated Woodpecker
2 calling birds along Brady Loop Rd.

NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW
1 bird along Wenzel Slough Rd.
4 birds at the Schouweiler Rd. wetland(amongst large numbers of both Tree and Violet-green Swallows)

Western Scrub Jay
2 birds along Wakefield Rd. near Elma
2 birds along the eastern portion of Brady Loop Rd.
1 bird just north of the Schouweiler Rd. wetland

Savannah Sparrow
1 along Brady Loop Rd.



Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
Fircrest.WA
godwit513 at msn.com