Hello Tweets,

Today we enjoyed yet another great day at the coast by birding this time between Bottle Beach to Tokeland. It was an exciting day with many highlights and excellent weather! Our day began during incoming tide at Bottle Beach at 9am,where we started out great with 5 juvenile PACIFIC GOLDEN PLOVERS and a juvenile female RUFF all observed amongst a flock of 88 Black-bellied Plovers. Due to the height of the high tide still plenty of mudflats remained during our visit until 10:45am. The obtained great size comparisons with the Ruff,as it dwarfed several Greater Yellowlegs and also smaller than the Black-bellied Plovers. It was a great bird to see,as it foraged on the open mudflats,as well as in the water too and the lighting was quite good allowing for some photographs to be obtained. The Pacific Golden Plovers were somewhat spread out along the entire shoreline,but always stayed close to the larger Black-bellied Plovers.Good numbers of returning waterfowl including Northern Pintail,Am.Wigeon and Green-winged Teal were also noted here,as we watched for shorebirds.

After birding Bottle Beach we drove over to Westport and birded in and around the Westport Marina,but during this time were unable to locate the previously reported Bar-tailed Godwit. A flock of 26 Marbled Godwits were counted from Float 21 before we walked a sandy spit just east of the coast guard station. Here,we located a flock of 30 LONG-BILLED CURLEWS and 12 additional Marbled Godwits. Next,we headed south to the Tokeland Marina where a very large flock of Marbled Godwits gathered along the shoreline just south of the marina complex,but soon lifted and scattered into a few flocks with 2 of the flocks resettling inside the marina area. We estimated 750+ birds with an additional 125 birds along with 3 LONG-BILLED CURLEWS noted nearby to the west on exposed mudflats near Graveyard Spit. A flock of 14 Willets also gathered along the shoreline just south of the marina,but no other shorebirds species.

Further north we walked the beach area north of the end of Midway Beach Rd.,where we located 5 SNOWY PLOVERS and 2 Sanderlings resting in tire grooves surrounded by beach debris. It was very nice to see the Snowy Plovers again after missing them on 2 recent trips to this location! Just offshore a flock of 15 migrating CANVASBACKS were noted flying south along with several small flocks of Green-winged Teal. A walk in the dune area to and from the open beaches at this location produced 30 Am.Pipits and 2 "Streaked"Horned Larks.

On a return visit to the Westport Marina between 3:45pm-4:15pm produced the BAR-TAILED GODWIT as noted from the north end of Float 21. The bird rested alot,but also moved around in amongst a flock of 140+ Marbled Godwits. The biggest downfall on the sighting of this Bar-tailed Godwit is it was injured since it was hopping by limping on one leg,as well as showing a reddish-orange area between the base of the bill and eyes,which could likely be blood. The bird as it limped around revealed it's whitish underwings clearly to us,as well as from back views showing the barred white rump and "classic" barred tail. The plumage of the bird was quite plain overall with drab brown upperparts and white underparts that extended up onto the mid breast with some indication of faint,but limited streaking on the upper breast and neck. The white supercillium was bright,distinct and bold contrasting well with a dark brown cap with pale areas along the hindneck. The bird strongly appeared to be an adult in non breeding plumage going by several of the above listed field marks and most definitely not like any crisp juvenile Bar-tailed Godwits we have personally encountered during the past fall season's in Washington. Whatever the case it was a very nice bird to see,despite it's injury!

On our way home we ended the day after 5pm along Brady Loop Rd.,where we located the pair of WHITE-TAILED KITES actively hunting and perched atop several different trees on both sides of Foster Rd. The birds seemed much more tolerable of eachother this evening,as we ended our views watching them together in open fields south of Foster Rd. A nice way to end a rewarding day!

A list of other notable highlights encountered during the day at selected locations include the following:

Western Grebe
2 birds at Westport

Great Egret
2 birds at Bottle Beach
3 birds along S.R.105 at Bay City

Greater Scaup
5 birds(with 4 Surf Scoters)off Bottle Beach in South Bay

Turkey Vulture
2 birds at Tokeland

Northern Harrier
1 bird at Bottle Beach
1 bird at Westport
1 bird at Midway Beach Rd.
1 bird along Brady Loop Rd.

Sharp-shinned Hawk
1 bird a Bottle Beach

Am.Kestrel
3 birds along the Brady Loop Rd. complex

Peregrine Falcon
2 birds at Bottle Beach

Black-bellied Plover
88 birds at Bottle Beach
12 birds near Graveyard Spit(Tokeland)
1 bird at Westhaven State Park(Westport)

Semipalmated Plover
1 bird at Bottle Beach

Greater Yellowlegs
12 birds at Bottle Beach

Least Sandpiper
250+ birds a Bottle Beach

Dunlin
25 birds at Bottle Beach

Short-billed Dowitcher
1 bird(with 5 Long-billed Dowitchers)at Bottle Beach

Wilson's Snipe
5 birds at Bottle Beach

Caspian Tern
23 birds at Graveyard Spit(Tokeland)

Anna's Hummingbird
1 immature male at Westport

Western Scrub Jay
1 bird at Westport

Am.Pipit
30 birds at Midway Beach Rd.
50 birds at Westhaven State Park(Westport)
50+ birds in a recently plowed corn field along Brady Loop Rd.

Yellow Warbler
1 bird at Bottle Beach

Common Yellowthroat
2 birds at Bottle Beach

Savannah Sparrow
8 birds at Bottle Beach
75+ birds at Westport
15 birds at Midway Beach Rd.

"Sooty"Fox Sparrow
32 birds at Bottle Beach(noteworthy count for location)

Lincoln's Sparrow
4 birds at Bottle Beach

Golden-crowned Sparrow
7 birds at Bottle Beach
4 birds at Westport

Purple Finch
43+ birds at Bottle Beach



Good birding,

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