Hello Tweets,

We have just updated our website with many new photos taken yesterday specifically from our afternoon visit to Bill's Spit. We obtained some excellent photos of Long-billed Curlews including several photos where they interacted with several nearby Whimbrel. All these photos were handheld by walking through thick,sloppy,slimy mud,but all the effort was worth it! The lighting was superb so we took advantage of that along with enjoying the nice afternoon at this favored shorebird spot! It was very fortunate considering the muddy conditions,but the large shorebirds were quite cooperative so that was good! All these photos are valuable to us not only because of them being shorebirds,but of the ability for us to get several flight photos which is not always easy!

Our evening visit to the outer beaches was in turn very good in itself,as we sat on driftwood and scoped the offshore waters. A lone Whimbrel came flying in from the north and eventually ended on the shoreline near where we stood and with time it allowed us to get a few photos before it decided to fly off to the south. All in all it was a great day at Ocean Shores not only for the birding,but for the exceptional atmosphere,as well as being one of our greatest birding sites in Washington! We wish to also include that while visiting the Ocean Shores Jetty yesterday we observed 4 "BLACK"BRANT flying south over Grays Harbor towards Westport,which is in itself quite unusual for a summer sighting. A very pleasant and rewarding day spent at Ocean Shores! A gallery of shorebirds taken yesterday can be viewed at the following link: http://www.pbase.com/godwit/recent_shorebirds/

Sincerely,

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