Hello Tweets,

Today we birded a few hours at Ocean Shores under steady,constant rain and no wind. We managed to locate a few highlights and it helped being properly dressed and by 1pm it seemed like almost 4pm with dark,heavy clouds and heavier rain that moved in. Many areas showed the remnants of the weekend storm that covered the area with heavy debris and high water. Our drive home from Ocean Shores to the Hoquiam STP held even heavy rains,but conditions improved slightly near the Brady-Elma area. Several areas along Brady Loop Rd. are blocked by flooding,but we only drove along Foster Rd then back to Hwy.12.

Our main highlight of the day was an immature dark-morph GYRFALCON observed resting atop a short driftwood snag at the Oyhut Wildlife Area during a very heavy downpour. The bird was very bulky and stocky and from the back appeared very dark,as it sat in the rain. Much of the inner Oyhut WA is still very flooded and we did encounter one duck hunter there before he decided to leave after having no success. 7,000-8,000+ Dunlin were also noted at this location with smaller numbers of Western Sandpipers mixed in,but many of the birds were observed father off in more heavily flooded areas towards the Tonquin Ave access. A large raft of Surf and White-winged Scoters in the inner cove at the Oyhut WA held 2 female-plumaged LONG-TAILED DUCKS,as well as up to 40 BLACK SCOTERS. 3 Harlequin Ducks were also noted resting atop the rocky jetty braving the somewhat heavy surf conditions. Very large numbers of gulls roosted on sandy areas at several locations between Damon Point and the Oyhut WA consisting primarily of California and Herring Gulls.

Our visit to the Ocean Shores Jetty was extremely slow as in our last visit with no "rockbirds" with the only main sighting including 2 offshore flying Brown Pelicans heading towards Westport,as well as a single Red-necked Grebe riding in the heavy surf with large numbers of Western Grebes. Nearby,we checked all of the 3 ponds at the Ocean Shores STP and had fairly good numbers of shorebirds on the southwest and north pond. Most abundant shorebird species were Dunlin with smaller numbers of Western and Least Sandpipers and 43 Long-billed Dowitchers. A gathering of 72 Northern Shovelers dotted the southwest pond with a few other waterfowl species.

We made short,brief stops at Damon Point and Bill's Spit,but our only highlight from the 2 locations were 2 male Eurasian Wigeons at Bill's Spit. We also checked the Cabana Pond at Ocean Shores(north of Marine View Drive),which produced a single winter-plumaged REDHEAD amongst a scattered flock of other waterfowl.

On our way home we briefly stopped by the Hoquiam STP,where we tallied 24 Canvasbacks,3 Eared Grebes and 2 Bonaparte's Gulls as the main highlights.


We made a final check in the Brady area on our way home,which was quite slow even for waterfowl. We did locate 2 Am.Kestrels along Brady Loop Rd. before heading on our way home with another Am.Kestrel noted along Hwy.12 just east of Schouweiler Rd. Our day began in the Brady area,where it was not raining. We located a single adult light-morph intermediate-type"Harlan's" Red-tailed Hawk along Schafer Boom Rd,which is accessed off of the western portion of Monte-Brady Loop Rd. The bird showed some characteristics of a light-morph"Harlan's"Red-tailed Hawk,but not completely so perhaps it may be an intergrade with other morphs within the wide spectrum of Red-tailed Hawk. We were able to obtain several photos of the bird,as it sat stop a telephone pole eating it's prey before flying off to the west. We presume this may be the same individual present sporadically from this nearby over the past few years. We have placed a few photos of this bird onto our website,which can be accessed at the following link: http://www.pbase.com/godwit/recent_photos/


Other notable species encountered during our wet day included the following:

Red-throated Loon
2 birds at the Oyhut Wildlife Area

Tundra Swan
4 birds flying along I-5 at Capitol Lake near Tumwater,Thurston Co.

Trumpeter Swan
5 birds in a partially flooded field along the south side of Hwy.12 at Satsop

Greater White-fronted Goose
2 birds resting along a green lawn along Greenview Ave.(north of the Ocean Shores STP at Ocean Shores)

Wood Duck
2 bird flying along Schafer Boom Rd. near Brady

Ruddy Duck
10 birds amongst large numbers of Bufflehead and other waterfowl at the Hoquiam STP

Northern Harrier
1 bird at the Oyhut WA

Cooper's Hawk
1 bird along S.R.109 near Ocean City

Merlin
1 bird along Hwy.12 at Elma

Peregrine Falcon
1 adult bird perched atop a tree along I-5 in the flooded area north of the Nisqually River in Pierce Co.(first good bird of the day)

Black-bellied Plover
3 birds at Damon Point

Semipalmated Plover
1 bird at Damon Point
1 bird at the Ocean Shores STP

Greater Yellowlegs
5 birds(amongst small numbers of Dunlin)along Hwy.101 at Mud Bay,Thurston Co.

Surfbird
1 bird(with 23 Black Turnstones)at the Oyhut WA

Wilson's Snipe
2 birds at the Ocean Shores STP

Pileated Woodpecker
1 bird fling along Hwy.8 east of McCleary

Western Scrub Jay
2 birds along Hwy.12 at Elma
1 bird along Hwy.12 at Brady
1 bird near Schafer Boom Rd. near Brady

COMMON YELLOWTHROAT
1 bird amongst a sparrow flock(including 4 Lincoln's Sparrows)along Schafer Boom Rd.

Western Meadowlark
1 bird at the Oyhut WA



Good birding,

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