Hello, all.

Netta Smith and I drove out to Westport Friday afternoon (5/5) and
were delighted to see that there were/are tens of thousands of
shorebirds all around the south side of Grays Harbor (including up
the Johns River), outer coast there, and north side of Willapa Bay.
Everywhere we went there were large numbers of Western and Least
Sandpipers (the latter mostly up the Johns R) and Dunlins, with
smaller numbers of Semipalmated and Black-bellied Plovers, Long-
billed Dowitchers (a flock of 30 at the freshwater pond you drive
through at Midway Beach), and others. At Tokeland there were around
50 each of Whimbrels and Marbled Godwits roosting at the marina and
feeding on the beach and lots of Short-billed Dowitchers, as well as
all the other species. We finished the day parked on the beach at
Grayland at the county line road watching thousands of small
shorebirds fly north along the beach, stopping to feed and picking up
again. They were still going strong when we left as the day was
waning. Almost all were Westerns, Dunlins, and Sanderlings.

This morning (5/6) we checked Midway Beach again - same cast of
characters but a Greater Yellowlegs flew in with them. We didn't walk
the beach, as it was windy and cold and we wimped out. We then hit
Tokeland again, where there were about 35 Ruddy (mostly males) and 4
Black Turnstones, 3 Surfbirds, and 10 Red Knots, quite exciting to
see all these colorful species at close range in and outside of the
marina. Two Whimbrels were the only large shorebirds at the marina as
we neared high tide, but many were feeding out at the shore. At
Bottle Beach just after high tide there were hundreds and hundreds of
Dunlins, Western Sandpipers, and Short-billed Dowitchers and much
smaller numbers of Black-bellied and Semipalmated Plovers, Whimbrels,
and Red Knots. I looked long and hard for knots there and saw only 3,
very different from the situation a few decades ago when hundreds to
thousands of knots occurred at Bottle Beach every spring. I wonder
how many have been seen by others this year.

We headed home after Bottle Beach, the only interesting sighting a
flock of 300 Whimbrels (301 by actual count) in a field on the south
side of the highway just W of Montesano. The largest counts of
Whimbrels in the state often come from that area in spring. A flock
of 10 Black-bellied Plovers were the only shorebirds we saw on the
Brady Loop Road.

We saw at least the low tens of thousands of small shorebirds and a
smattering of larger ones in our less-than-24-hour trip to Westport,
Grayland, and Tokeland, all in gorgeous breeding plumage. Our total
shorebird list was 18 species, the last a Wilson's Snipe that flew
over on Ocosta Third Street opposite Bottle Beach (the marshes there
were full of Virginia Rails and Soras, by the way). I can't imagine
the shorebird festival the previous weekend presented any better
spectacle, but at least it had good midday tides. We chose this
timing because the high tides were at the end and beginning of the
day, so overnighting seemed the only way to best experience the
shorebirds. It was certainly worth it!

It's not too late to get out there for the high tide of 9:30 tomorrow
morning!

Dennis
-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net

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