Carolyn and I spent Tuesday and Wednesday on a short jaunt along the coast.
We didn't have a great variety of birds but we got some great looks at what
we did see.
Started with Bottle Beach on Tuesday but the tide was out and I couldn't see
the water let alone any birds. So we went to the docks in Westport. The
WESTERN GULLS and the COMMON LOONS were most numerous with probably 6 of
each in view at any one time. There was a nice close look at a PIGEON
GUILLEMOT in breeding plumage. Breeding DOUBLE-CRESTED and PELAGIC
CORMORANTS were a little more distant, but the highlight was a real close-up
look at a BRANDT'S CORMORANT in full breeding plumage.
Next stop was Tokeland. It was pretty slow there as well with the harbor
being very low. We hung around on the pier by the crab dock and enjoyed the
sunshine. Looked at the gulls, which frustrate me so I don't usually spend
much time on them. Some western's again and some hybrids and one large, more
slender gull with a dark back that I am still working on for identification.
Perhaps by the time I have pictures ready I will know. When the tide started
in we had quite a few birds fishing near the pier. I counted 32 COMMON LOON,
10 D-C CORMORANT, 6+/- WESTERN GREBE, a pair of RED-BREASTED MERGANSER, a
number of gulls and 1 CASPIAN TERN in view at one time.There was a HORNED
GREBE but he was out of site at that moment. Oh, and I better mention the
one lone female SURF SCOTER.
Finished the day at Midway Beach where we were disappointed to find the gate
unlocked and open. After parking and while preparing for a walk, a pickup
came ripping by and proceeded across the fresh gravel and out diagonally
across the dunes where the snowy plovers nest to the ocean beach. The walk
produced about 100 very tired acting LEAST SANDPIPERS with 2 WESTERN
SANDPIPER that I saw mixed in. About a dozen SNOWY PLOVER were observed and
4 SEMI-PALMATED PLOVER were also in the beachside dunes. In the grass dunes
nearer the gate we saw about 6 each HORNED LARK and SAVANNAH SPARROW. Two of
the larks were banded and I will have pictures of the banded birds on my web
site this afternoon.
Wednesday the WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW awakened us at the campground and we
covered pretty much the same ground as Tuesday with nothing different seen.
I did get some good shots (camera) at a number of the birds seen and will
put a note on when I have them up this afternoon.

Joseph Higbee
Spanaway, WA
Mailto: jvhigbee at hotmail.com