Hello Tweets,

Today Jim Pruske and my mother and I endured a very wet,windy day at Ocean Shores,primarily during our visit to Damon Point between 9:30am-1pm. Conditions were fierce during most of our visit to Damon Point with extremely high winds,heavy rain showers and even hail at times,but we managed to have a good time encountering several good species. Even dressed for the weather with raingear in these treacherous conditions we still got very wet due to the wind occasionally sneaking water in underneath our clothes! We even saw a Coast Guard helicopter actively patrolling areas west of Damon Point since conditions were so windy and we estimated that winds at the strongest were between 45-50 mph. Our main highlight at this location and for the day were 10 SNOW BUNTINGS observed in a roaming flock in beach vegetation near Catala Spit. These birds remained in a fairly tight flock and wandered over the outer beach dunes by foraging in loose debris,etc. then were last seen flying towards the Damon Point"pond". We never relocated the flock upon our return walk made to he parking lot,but we figure they were hunkered down in the dunes or under driftwood clumps. Up to 9 SNOWY OWLS were also present in this same region near Catala Spit with our very first Snowy Owl of the day present in dunes just southeast of the Damon Point"pond". We watched all the Snowy Owls for the majority of our visit to Damon Point,as we braved the weather the best we could. We located only one Snowy Owl pellet that was covered in small downy white feathers,which could be feathers from a Red Phalarope. We only located 1 live Red Phalarope at Damon Point,but just north of the Ocean Shores STP up to 40 birds were encountered in recent flooded areas near the road followed by a lone bird at the Ocean Shores Jetty. We did locate 3 separate dead Red Phalaropes at Ocean Shores,including 2 at Damon Point and 1 near the Ocean Shores STP.

All but one of the Snowy Owls were fairly white overall with just minimal black areas and barring with the 1 individual bird that was very dark and showed considerable black barring on the upperparts,as well as on the head and back. As we descended back to our vehicle conditions cleared considerably with paches of blue sky and sun,which was a good thing for us so we could have time to dry out! We scoped the open water of North Bay from the parking lot,as the wind decreased as well as checked Grays Harbor from the other side of Damon Point for additional species. One good note before we left Damon Point was retrieveing a beached Western Grebe and helping it back to the water since it was stranded far up on the mudlats and hobbling around helplessly. Once we put it back into thewater it happily swam off,but we expect it may try and beach itself again and in the hand it seemed very under weight so it may be a very weak and sick bird. Next,we located a flock of 20 beached Western Grebes at the base of the Ocean Shores Jetty,but we didn't attempt to bother them since people coming back from a walk on the jetty scared the birds. Ther were also 20 additional Western Grebes just offshore of the Ocean Shores Jetty.

Eventhough the rain let up at times the wind remained almost all day at Ocean Shores,but we had a great time! Additional species of note encountered during our visit to Ocean Shores include the following:

Red-throated Loon
8-10 at Damon Point

Red-necked Grebe
1 off Damon Point

Eared Grebe
1 at Lake Minard

Brandt's Cormorant
5 at Damon Point

Eurasian Wigeon
1 at the Ocean Shores Golf Course
1 at Lake Minard

Black Scoter
25 off Damon Point(in Grays Harbor)

LONG-TAILED DUCK
1 in North Bay at the base of Damon Point

Northern Harrier
1 at Damon Point
2 at the Oyhut Wildlife Area

Peregrine Falcon
1 at Damon Point

Ring-necked Pheasant
1 male near the Oyhut Wildlife Area

Black-bellied Plover
1 at the Damon Point"pond"

Semipalmated Plover
10 at the base of Damon Point

Rock Sandpiper
4 at the Ocean Shores Jetty(with 5+ Black Turnstones and 10 Surfbirds)

Western Sandpiper
85+ at Damon Point

Least Sandpiper
25+ at Damon Point

Dunlin
4-5,000+ at Damon Point(with very small numbers of Sanderlings)

"Streaked"Horned Lark
6 at Damon Point

Am.Pipit
1 at Damon Point


On our way home we made a few stops at various locations in the Brady-Elma area,where our last good birds of the day were encountered along Wenzel Slough Rd. To begin,in flooded fields just south of the Goeres Farm we located 2 immature GLAUCOUS GULLS,which is possibly the same location that Tim O'Brien reported 1 Glaucous Gull yesterday. Both birds appeared to be in 1st winter plumage,but due to fading light and distance it remained unsure,but both bird were is separate flooded areas amongst other gulls. The gull diversity was predominately of Mew Gulls with smaller numbers of Glaucous-winged/"Olympic"Gulls,but 2 Herring Gulls,2 Thayer's Gulls,2 Ring-billed Gulls and 1 adult Western Gull rounded out the remainder of the gull species. 15-20 Common Mergansers and a flock of 50 Dunlin were also observed in these same flooded areas.

A large gathering of 110+ swans noted in open fields between Hw.12 and the Goeres Farm yielded a mix of both Trumpeter and Tundra Swans,which were noted along Keys Rd.

Continuing along Wenzel Slough Rd. we made our last stop of the day at Vance Creek Co. Park,where 2 male REDHEADS,3 Canvasbacks,a single Red-throated Loon and a Western Grebe were al noted in the large pond south of Wenzel Slough Rd. A large scaup flock was also noted at this same location that consisted of 75+ Ring-necked Ducks and 35+ Lesser Scaups. In the pond north of Wenzel Slough Rd. another Red-throated Loon was noted followed by another Western Grebe. This was our 1st personal record of Redhead from this location followed by our 3rd record for Red-throated Loon,but nonetheless a good spot for stray waterbird species! To end the day an additional Canvasback was noted in the far east pond of Vance Creek Co. Park associating within a tight flock of Lesser Scaups and Pied-billed Grebes.

A few additional noteworthy species during the day included the following at selected locations:

Am.Kestrel
3 along the Brady Loop Rd. complex

Western Scrub Jay
2 along Hwy.12 at Elma
2 along Hwy.12 at Satsop
1 along Hwy.12 at Brady
1 along Emerson Ave. at Hoquiam



Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
Fircrest,WA
godwit at worldnet.att.net