Hello Tweets,

Today Jim Pruske and my mother and I birded a familiar coastal route between Tokeland to Bottle Beach. The weather was warm and sunny just a few miles east of the coast and at Tokeland,but a few areas were windy,cool,and covered in thick low clouds and fog(Midway Beach Rd. to Westport). We encountered a few highlights including a nesting pair of PURPLE MARTINS at the Tokeland Marina,which young heard calling from an old nestsite inside an old tire near the top of a large pole. This is the same nestsite used by probably this same pair of Purple Martins within the last 2-3 years. We watched from a safe distance,as well as obtained some photographs of the both adult birds as they retuned back and forth from the tire with food in their bills. We do not know how full the tire is of nesting material from recent years,but the Purple Martins seem to like the location. Anyhow,it was nice to see the adult birds and hear the young calling for food since this is a still a nice coastal location for this species.

Our visit to the Tokeland Marina between 1pm-2pm yielded a flock of 350+ Marbled Godwits,as they all assembled along the shoreline and along a wood dock during incoming tide. A group of 10 WILLETS and 8 Whimbrels were noted along the shoreline immediately south of the marina complex. Our visit to Bottle Beach during fast incoming tide produced our largest concentrations of shorebirds,including a WILLET and our only BAIRD'S SANDPIPER of the day!

Our windy,foggy visit to Midway Beach Rd. produced 11 SNOWY PLOVERS(10 juvenile birds and an adult female),as well as a flyby Am.Bittern that greeted us before we walked out onto the open beaches. Our evening visit to Westport began by producing 220 Marbled Godwits gathered inside the protected marina from Float 21 and the coast guard station,as they rested on the rock jetty. A walk of sandy spit east of the coast guard station yielded highlights including an adult PARASITIC JAEGER,30+ COMMON TERNS and 3 Red-necked Phalaropes that were all observed flying to the north of the sandy spit. As we left Westport a small group of 5 GREAT EGRETS were noted,as they rested in high grass at high tide.


A list of a few additional species of note encountered during the relatively slow day include the following:

2 Pacific Loons off North Cove

1 Green Heron observed atop a short evergreen tree along S.R.105 east of Markham

Turkey Vulture
2 at Midway Beach Rd.
4 at Tokeland
2 at Westport
2 at Bottle Beach
3 along Brady Loop Rd.
2 along Hwy.12 at Satsop

Northern Harrier
1 at Midway Beach Rd.
2 at Westport
2 along Brady Loop Rd.

1 Am.Kestrel along Brady Loop Rd.

2 Peregrine Falcons at Tokeland

90 Black-bellied Plovers at Bottle Beach

1 Semipalmated Plover at Midway Beach Rd. with 28 birds at Bottle Beach

8 Whimbrel at the Tokeland Marina with 7 additional birds at Bottle Beach(with 2 Marbled Godwits)

70 Sanderlings at Midway Beach Rd.

400+ Western Sandpipers at Bottle Beach

80 Short-billed Dowitchers at Bottle Beach

1 Wilson's Snipe along Brady Loop Rd.

5 "Streaked"Horned Larks at Midway Beach Rd.

1 Wilson's Warbler at Westport



Good birding,

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