Subject: [Tweeters] Elma to Tokeland birding 12-09-06
Date: Dec 9 19:26:30 2006
From: Ruth and/or Patrick Sullivan - godwit513 at msn.com


Hello Tweets,

Today Jim Pruske and my mother and I birded from the Elma area to Tokeland with on and off rain showers all day with clearing at times,but overall a good diversity of species. We began and ended the day in the Elma area in search of the Am.Dipper we originally located along Cloquallum Creek on the 7th of December. Our efforts today proved unsuccessful on both attempts,but it is nice that Tim O'Brien saw 2 Am.Dippers at this location the following day after our original sighting. The birds are most likely flying up and down the creek and South Union Rd. just happens to be along one portion of the Cloquallum Creek. Perhaps another time we'll see them! Other nearby good accessible habitat for Am.Dipper exist along Wildcat Creek along McKnight Rd.,which is several miles east of South Union Rd. along Hwy.8.

Despite not seeing the Am.Dipper(s)today we had a good day filled with many highlights. To begin we checked the large mitigation pond along Utility Lane,where we first encountered a very large assortment of waterfowl in the range of 2,500-3,000 birds. This is the same location that Tim O'Brien reported a single Cinnamon Teal yesterday morning. The ducks were all gathered along the entire length of the pond,but were quite nervous even with us standing along the shoulder of the road along the northern side of the pond,as we scoped through the trees. It was a great experience seeing all these ducks gathered and it is a good place for them since they are safe due to waterfowl hunting nearby in the Elma-Brady area. The waterfowl numbers were primarily made up of Mallard and Northern Pintail with smaller numbers of Am.Wigeon,Northern Shovelers and Green-winged Teal and a very few Ring-necked Ducks, Lesser Scaup, and Bufflehead. Within the large mass of ducks we located 2 male CINNAMON TEAL and a single male EURASIAN WIGEON and a male Eurasian/Am.Wigeon intergrade. A single immature Sharp-shinned Hawk was also present at this location. The pond is only visible from Utility Lane and through the trees,but you can still identify most of the ducks since instead of flying completely off they swim back and forth in a huddled mass. It is a great spot during hunting season!

We spent a short time birding Brady Loop Rd. before continuing onto Bottle Beach,where we arrived around 10am. The tide was still out,but we immediately located masses of Dunlins lined along the shoreline primarily east of the end of the trail. Upon closer inspection of the Dunlin we easily located 3 LONG-BILLED CURLEWS and 25 Black-bellied Plovers. This was our first personal December record of Long-billed Curlew for this location! While watching the shorebirds Jim spotted 3-4 swallows flying down the beach and with a closer examination these turned out to all be BARN SWALLOWS! This was a nice sighting although Barn Swallows have been encountered in past winters at various locations in western WA and we expect these birds will stay around. Only one of the Barn Swallows remained flying back and forth in the wind along the beach and as a heavy rain shower came upon us we decided to walk back to our vehicle.

After Bottle Beach we headed south to Midway Beach Rd.,where we walked in heavy winds along the flooded beach north of the end of the road with no success in location too much at all,except for a single immature Peregrine Falcon,4 Northern Harriers,15 Marbled Godwits(flying south)and 30+ Least Sandpipers,as our highlights. We also visited the beaches accessed from Grayland Beach State park that hosted several thousand Dunlin with small numbers of Sanderling,and Western and Least Sandpipers mixed in. Many of these birds flew north to south along the shoreline with a few flocks assembling along beach to gather and feed. We then checked the open beaches accessed from Warrenton-Cannery Rd.,which is a few miles south of Midway Beach Rd. Before driving to the end of the road during a calm break in the weather we located a nice mixed flock of passerines near a few homes. Here,we attracted many species by a good combination of "pishing" and the imitation of a Northern Saw-whet Owl. Our main highlights within this flock were a single immature male Anna's Hummingbird,1 Hutton's Vireo and a single 1 Hermit Thrush. We located another Hermit Thrush a short time earlier foraging along S.R.105 near Grayland,as well as several Varied Thrushes along this highway and side roads.

We soon drove to the end of Warrenton-Cannery Rd.,where we first located 2 SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS and 45 Last sandpipers resting calmly in a "wreck" of debris along the upper beach. We then located our first SNOWY PLOVERS of the day in deep grooves made by past vehicles and were able to make a final count of 32 birds. I was great to see these birds here and with basically no effort doing any walking to see them like normally at Midway Beach Rd. We left all the shorebirds and continued south to Tokeland as the weather remained fairly calm.

We arrived at the Tokeland Marina just after high tide,where we located a large flock of 900+ Marbled Godwits gathered on the old wooden dock inside the marina. A portion of this group was also resting along the rocky shoreline immediately south of the marina. Within the largest flock we easily located 16 Willets and 42 Long-billed Dowitchers along with 3 Dunlin. A scoping of Willapa Bay south of the marina yielded 150+ "Black"Brant,as the main highlights. Before leaving Tokeland we made a quick stop along 7th Street just north of the Bayshore RV Park,where 15 LONG-BILLED CURLEWS and 17 Marbled Godwits gathered at the tip of Graveyard Spit. We then checked along the south side of S.R.105 1/2 mile east of Tokeland,where a large flock of Canada/Cackling Geese flock grazed and gathered in the open fields. Within these flocks we located a single "ALEUTIAN"CACKLING GOOSE and 60+ "Dusky"Canada Geese.

On our way home our only other highlight of the day was a single adult SNOW GOOSE observed in a large grassy field amongst a small flock of Canada Geese along the south side of Hwy.12(just west of MP 12). 35 Trumpeter Swans were also noted at this same location,as was 2 adult Peregrine Falcons noted flying north over the highway.


A list of other highlights of the day included the following:

Tundra Swan
7 birds(with 33 Trumpeter Swans)along Hwy.12 near Satsop

"Dusky"Canada Goose
40 birds along Brady Loop Rd.(with 20 Trumpeter Swans)
60+ birds along S.R.105 just east of Tokeland

Am.Kestrel
1 bird along Wenzel Slough Rd.(east of Vance Creek Co. Park)
1 bird harassing the lingering adult light-morph"Harlan's"Red-tailed Hawk intergrade along Hwy.12 at Monte-Brady Rd.

Merlin
1 female bird of the "Taiga"subspecies along Brady Loop Rd.

Black-bellied Plover
25 birds at Bottle Beach
15 birds(with 75 Dunlin)along S.R.105 jus east of Tokeland

Greater Yellowlegs
2 birds along Wakefield Rd.(south of Elma)
3 birds flying along S.R.105 near Grayland

Wilson's Snipe
2 birds at the Tokeland Marina

Mourning Dove
100+ birds along Monte-Elma Rd. near Satsop

Western Scrub Jay
1 bird along Hwy.12 at Elma
4 birds along Brady Loop Rd.
2 birds along Hwy.12 at Schouweiler Rd.

Red Crossbill
45+ birds along S.R.105 at Johns River Rd.



Good birding,

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