Here is a complete report on the ELWAS Grays Harbor Loop Field Trip on August 26. With 27 people in 8 cars
this was the most number of people of any ELWAS field trip. Despite the large number the trip went very well and we didn't lose anyone. Visitors included a woman from Australia who registered a lot of life birds, and a woman from Berkeley, CA. It was a beautiful, sunny and quite warm day. We ended up with 56 species with the highlight being a White-tailed Kite seen about 4:30 p.m. from Foster Road. Of course with this large a group not everyone saw every bird. We started the trip with 2 OSPREY seen at Renton from I-405. Our first birding stop was a the Raymond City Park on the Willapa R. On the way in to the park two live Mule Deer were seen among the many rust-colored metal art depictions of deer and other animals. A GREEN HERON flew up from near the viewing deck and flew into some trees. It continued to fly ahead of us a number of times before we finally got a scope look at it perched in some dense brush. GREAT BLUE HERONS were also present. A DOWNY WOODPECKER was heard by!
a few. Along the trail we saw COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, PURPLE FINCH, AMERICAN GOLDFINCH, and CEDAR WAXWING. We got a number of good views of a WESTERN WOOD-PEWEE that was busy making sorties out from its perch to catch insects. A very pretty female WESTERN TANAGER cooperated with good scope views. A BELTED KINGFISHER made an appearance on a piling. A number of BARN SWALLOWS were cruising over the grassy areas where SAVANNAH SPARROWS were also seen. On the drive to Tokeland we stopped at the Cedar River estuary to view a number of water birds. We saw our first GREATER & LESSER YELLOWLEGS for the day and our only sighting of a RED-NECKED PHALAROPE. A few GADWALL, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, NORTHERN PINTAIL. We stopped at the access looking out to Graveyard Spit and sat on the logs in the sunshine to eat our lunches. Out on the spit were the usual large number of gull, a few CASPIAN TERNS and a lone WHIMBREL. At the south end of the Tokeland Marina were a few hundred MARBLED GODWITS, ma!
ny HEERMANN'S GULLS, some WILLET and a flock of about 20 DOUBLE-CRESTE
D CORMORANTS flew by in formation. There were many PURPLE MARTINS flying around. BREWER'S BLACKBIRDS were feeding on brown lawns and HOUSE SPARROWS were also present. An OSPREY was flying over. After leaving Tokeland we stopped at North Cove to look at the thousands of gulls on the sand bars and taking baths in the fresh water flowing into the cove. Some MEW GULLS were seen among the predominant GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULLS. We were running late and skipped Midway Beach and Westport to get to Bottle Beach. We arrived there 1-1/2 hours ahead of an 8.4 high tide at 3:40, but that was not early enough and there were only few feet of beach not under water. We missed the large flocks, but still saw a number of SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS, large numbers of WESTERN SANDPIPERS, a few LEAST SANDPIPERS and a lone BAIRD'S SANDPIPER seen only by one of our group. Far out in the water were BROWN PELICANS diving into the water and some COMMON LOONS. A little closer was a group of NORTHERN SHOVELERS. !
We made a brief stop at the John's River access and found our only LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER among a number of yellowlegs. Next we headed for Brady Loop Road and Foster Road where we saw the WHITE-TAILED KITE. In this area, as well as in other areas during the trip, we saw RED-TAILED HAWKS and NORTHERN HARRIERS. A PEREGRINE FALCON was seen flying by some people. We also drove Wenzel Slough Road to Vance County Park where we got our last species for the day, a KILLDEER.

Hugh Jennings
Bellevue, WA
hughbirder AT earthlink.net