Subject: [Tweeters] Brady Loop Rd. to Tokeland birding 10-10-06
Date: Oct 10 22:33:57 2006
From: Ruth and/or Patrick Sullivan - godwit513 at msn.com


Hello Tweets,

Today we birded from Brady Loop Rd. to Tokeland,where birding conditions were again very good,as well as several good birds located along the way. We began our morning along Brady Loop Rd.,where we drove along Foster Rd. and located the lingering pair of WHITE-TAILED KITES along opposite sides of the road between both ends of Brady Loop Rd. Both birds were observed perched atop short trees with only one of the birds eventually flying to another tree,which could also be seen well from the road. Other raptor species near this same location included 1 Northern Harrier,1 Sharp-shinned Hawk, 2 Cooper's Hawks and 1 Am.Kestrel. We then arrived at Bottle Beach during the incoming high tide,where good numbers of Black-bellied Plovers dotted the open mudflats along with a few other species of shorebirds. In the canal behind the mudflats of Bottle Beach were 10 Greater Yellowlegs,10 Long-billed Dowitchers and 3 Wilson's Snipes. We made another visit to Bottle Beach at 4:30pm during the outgoing tide after birding Midway Beach Rd.,but the tide was still very high although several small flocks of shorebirds began to return to the area despite little open mudflats. Another walk along the canal behind Bottle Beach produced 17 Greater Yellowlegs and 15 Long-billed Dowitchers. Good numbers of Northern Pintail,Am.Wigeon and Green-winged Teal were noted during both visits to Bottle Beach,as they mostly flew back and forth along the shoreline. Our main highlight at Bottle Beach and perhaps for the day was observing an adult "Taiga or Boreal"Merlin during our evening visit to Bottle Beach just as we left our vehicle to walk out along the trail to the mudflats. This bright and distinctive bird was perched atop an evergreen tree bordering the mudflats and remained very alert before flying off to an unknown location. It was one of very few Merlin of this subspecies we have encountered in Washington!

At Westport the lingering BAR-TAILED GODWIT remained close amongst a flock of 130 Marbled Godwits along the rocky jetty just north of the Westport Coast Guard Station. The bird was observed after 1pm from Float 21 at the east end of the Westport Marina. Nearby,a flock of 40 LONG-BILLED CURLEWS gathering at the tip of a sandy spit just east of the coast guard station. A short visit to Westhaven State Park produced 2 Red-necked Grebes swimming together with small numbers of nearby Western Grebes at Half Moon Bay. Just before leaving this location we located 6 PACIFIC GOLDEN PLOVERS and a flock of 75+ Dunlin flying south from the open beaches,where we watched the flock as far as we could before finally loosing them over the trees.

Next, we drove straight to the Tokeland Marina where the usual large gathering of 800+ Marbled Godwits were noted lined along the entire length of their favorite old wooden dock. 2 Willets and 3 Long-billed Dowitchers were also noted amongst this flock with 12 additional Willets noted along he shoreline next to the old coast guard station south of the marina complex. We made a short visit near Graveyard Spit,where a large roosting gull flock hosted 34 lingering Caspian Terns,as well as 2 LONG-BILLED CURLEWS resting on the warm sand nearby. Just before leaving Tokeland we made a nice stop along Kindred Avenue,where we "pished" out 2 male BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLERS along with a few much duller Yellow-rumped Warblers.


Our last major stop of the day was made at Midway Beach Rd.,where our efforts concentrated on a roaming flock of 8 LAPLAND LONGSPURS noted with 8-10 Am.Pipits at the end of the road,where you are able to park. It was great to see these birds without doing any major walking,as the we could easily pick out the Lapland Longspurs by their dry rattled call! The bird allowed great views at first,but when the moved around more and spread out then dropped back into more vegetated areas they proved tougher to see until they flew again.

We have placed several photos of today's highlights onto our website for your viewing,which include a White-tailed Kite along Foster Rd.,Lapland Longspur a Midway Beach Rd. and a Black-throated Gray Warbler from Tokeland. The photos of the White-tailed Kite were taken with our new Nikon D80 digital camera and due to not being in the right setting,as well as the distance and lighting at the time the photos are somewhat blurry. These photos can all be accessed a the following link: http://www.pbase.com/godwit/recent_photos/


Other key species of note for the day included the following:

Great Egret
5 birds along S.R.105 at Bay City

Greater White-fronted Goose
8 birds with Canada Geese grazing at the Bishop Athletic Complex

Red-breasted Merganser
10 birds at Bottle Beach(South Bay)

Northern Harrier
1 bird along Foster Rd.(Brady Loop Rd.)
1 bird at Bottle Beach
1 bird at Westport
1 bird at Tokeland

Black Turnstone
1 at the Westport Marina

Herring Gull
1 at Graveyard Spit

Red-breasted Sapsucker
1 along Brady Loop Rd.




Good birding,

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