Hi Tweeters,

I finally made it to the coast to look for a few of the species that have been posted on Tweeters lately. First of all, thanks to all of you non-lurkers for sharing your sightings; it is greatly appreciated.

I started out in Tokeland. The tide was still low and the godwits were scattered about the harbor. Normally, I seem to arrive there at high tide when they are all bunched together with their heads tucked under their wings. It was much more dynamic today, with several hundred Marbled Godwits actively feeding, jostling for position, and soaring in circles to land where they had just taken off from. There were at least 20 Willets scattered throughout the godwits. I did not see any Bar-tailed Godwits, but could have very easily missed them. I also found a couple of Whimbrels feeding off in the distance when looking from the rock wall just before the marina.

I next stopped at Midway Beach. When I arrived, there were 4 Red-necked Phalaropes in the small pond just to the south of the road. Continuing in that direction, I ran into 4 birders, including Brian Bell, Georgia (I hope that I got your names right; I forget the names of the other two folks; I'm terrible with names unless you're an Australopithecus or a Salhelanthropus) who had seen 4 juvenile Buff-breasted Sandpipers and informed me that that had probably flown to the north side of the access road. They were right! I found the sandpipers perhaps a quarter of a mile north of the access road, probably near the area where they had been described on Tweeters a couple of days ago. If you follow the edge of the dune grass (or the truck tire tracks), past the abandoned microwave, to the area where the dune grass curves toward the ocean, there is a large muddy patch that is drying and cracking. The 4 Buff-breasted Sandpipers were in the muddy patch (they blend in quite well)!
. This
was life bird # 500 for me (since nobody else was there, I celebrated by performing the Tuvan wrestling victory dance). There was also a Least Sandpiper with them, which served as a nice contrast of a yellow-legged peep. They were soon joined by 1 Semi-palmated Sandpiper. I also had a nice look at 3 Horned Larks at the edge of the dune grass.

Next, I raced over to Bottle Beach before the tide came in. It was amazingly free of shorebirds. The only peeps that were present were 15 or so Black-bellied Plovers. One was still in full breeding plumage, a few had dark feathers on their bellies only, while most were already in their winter plumage.

I finished off with a look around Westport. A couple of sealions were swimming around the marina. One was wearing a t-shirt stating "Blame the Dams, Not Us." I might have imagined it. Anyway, there were large numbers of Common Murres off of the coast, with a much smaller number of Rhinoceros Auklets and Pigeon Guillemots. I climbed the rock wall near the end of the large parking lot (with the public restrooms) and scoped the jetty to the north. Huddled near the water line were at least 10 Black Turnstones and 2 Surfbirds. To the right of these was a lone Wandering Tattler (an ABA region first for me).

In addition, large numbers of Brown Pelicans were on the move and lots of Heermann's Gulls were out. It's a good time to explore the coast.

Good birding,

Lonnie Somer
Olympia, WA
wheelermombi at comcast.net