Subject: [Tweeters] Bar-tailed Godwit and Ruff continue 10-5-06
Date: Oct 5 21:08:08 2006
From: Ruth and/or Patrick Sullivan - godwit513 at msn.com


Hello Tweets,

Today we birded along the coast between Bottle Beach and Tokeland with our primary goal to relocate some of the recent good shorebirds that we reported recently,as well as looking for any other new species. The weather remained great all day with stiff winds later in the day,but overall conditions were good. We began the day at 7:30am along I-5 at Nisqually,where we observed a WHITE-TAILED KITE perched atop a bush along McAllister Creek at the Nisqually NWR. Continuing west in a large grassy field along the north side of Hwy.12 just east of the Wynoocheee River near Montesano were a flock of 7 GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE,which were also seen at this location on our way home. We then drove straight to Bottle Beach to try for shorebirds during the incoming high tide that was scheduled for 12:30pm. After arriving at Bottle Beach at 9:30am we were joined by Jerry Pilny of Calgary,Alberta who in turn was working on his ABA area year list for 2006. It was a pleasure meeting him again after running into him last year when the Redwing was in Olympia. As the tide continued moving towards the shore we scoped what few shorebirds there were with the main highlight being a juvenile PACIFIC GOLDEN PLOVER amongst a flock of 30 Black-bellied Plovers. A short walk behind the "greenbelt" of crabapple trees and other vegetation produced 2 Yellow Warblers,1 Orange-crowned Warbler,4 Lincoln's Sparrows and 3 Red Crossbills as the main highlights. Towards the end of our visit to Bottle Beach a Merlin shot through the area with most of the shorebirds flying off to unknown locations.

Jerry joined us,as we birded with him at several other locations throughout the day with our next stop being the Westport Marina. Here,we located the adult injured BAR-TAILED GODWIT amongst a flock of 15+ Marbled Godwits,where the all settled restlessly along the rocky jetty very close to the coast guard station. The Bar-tailed Godwit was again easily separated from the larger,buffier Marbled Godwits,but it seemed far less more worried about resting than anything else. While watching the Bar-tailed Godwit we turned our backs and scoped the open water of Grays Harbor where a single dark-morph NORTHERN FULMAR was observed helplessly flopping in the water as if it had fishing line or something caught on it's body,but we saw nothing. The bird continued this behavior for 20 minutes as we watched it and the Bar-tailed Godwit,so it definitely had something on it. Good numbers of Brown Pelicans and Heermann's Gulls were also noted in and around the Westport Marina,as well as good numbers of Common Loons and Common Murres in Grays Harbor itself. A single Pacific Loon and 10 Western Grebes were the only other noteworthy species for the general Westport area.

Our next stop of the day was at the Tokeland,where we arrived at high tide and made our first stop along the end of 7th Avenue with views of the tip of Graveyard Spit. Here,we tallied 2 LONG-BILLED CURLEWS,4 Black-bellied Plovers and 53 CASPIAN TERNS as the only major species amongst good numbers of roosting gulls. We then drove straight to the Tokeland Marina and immediately noted the large gathering of 850+ Marbled Godwits along the entire length of the old wooden dock. A flock of 15 Willets assembled along the wooden dock attached to the old coast guard station just south of the marina complex along wit good numbers of Heermann's Gulls. A single Great Egret was noted with Great Blue Herons in a saltmarsh area north of the Tokeland Marina.

After birding Tokeland we traveled north and walked the open beaches north of the end of Midway Beach Rd.,where we located 3 SNOWY PLOVERS and a single "Streaked"Horned Lark before making a short walk back to our vehicles. On our return walk a single OSPREY flew along the open beaches then east to inland areas,as well as a single flyover Peregrine Falcon. We then drove back to the Westport Marina at 3:30pm,where the Bar-tailed Godwit was again observed this time resting calmly amongst a flock of Marbled Godwits just north of Float 21. This is the same location that we observed this bird than on the 2nd of October,so it seems to favor it and the rocky jetty just north of the coast guard station.

After watching the Bar-tailed Godwit for a short while we returned to Bottle Beach during the outgoing tide for a change just to see if anything would be there. To our luck shorebirds were there and many more than during our morning visit! With a short walk out onto the open mudflats with relatively good lighting conditions we were able to relocate the juvenile female RUFF loosely associating with several Black-belled Plovers. We watched as the Ruff foraged across the mudflats in good scope views,while we also searched for other shorebirds species. We presumed this was the same bird than observed by us on the 2nd of October at this same location,so it was great to see it again! While watching the Ruff we also located 2 PACIFIC GOLDEN PLOVERS,9 RED KNOTS and 7-8 Short-billed Dowitchers among other shorebird species. It was definitely worth the small effort to walk out on the mudflats and it also helped having the shorebirds close enough for good views!


Jerry ended the day with us along the Brady Loop Rd. complex,where we located with his help both of the WHITE-TAILED KITES along Foster Rd.,as well as 12+ Western Meadowlarks in a low grassy field along just north of the intersection of Foster and Brady Loop Rds. In addition we observed several flocks of Canada and CACKLING GEESE that congregated in freshly plowed corn fields east of Foster Rd.,which were our first for the season for this location


Other noteworthy species observed during the day included the following:

Great Egret
3 birds along S.R.105 at Bay City
2 birds along Montesano Street in Westport
1 bird at Tokeland

Northern Harrier
1 bird at Tokeland

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

Black-bellied Plover
30 birds during the morning at Bottle Beach with 250+ birds there during the evening outgoing tide

Semipalmated Plover
1 bird at Bottle Beach

Greater Yellowlegs
1 bird at the Tokeland Marina

Sanderling
30 birds at Bottle Beach
30 birds a Midway Beach Rd.

Western Sandpiper
25+ birds(with 120+ Least Sandpipers)during the evening outgoing tide a Bottle Beach

Dunlin
5 birds during the morning incoming tide at Bottle Beach with 30+ birds there during the evening outgoing tide

Long-billed Dowitcher
7 birds at Bottle Beach

Wilson's Snipe
5 birds at Bottle Beach

Herring Gull
7 birds along S.R.105 at North Cove

Hairy Woodpecker
1 bird along S.R.105 near Westport

Western Scrub Jay
2 birds along Foster Rd.(Brady Loop Rd. complex)

Am.Pipit
1 bird at Midway Beach Rd.

Purple Finch
15 birds at Bottle Beach



Good birding,

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