Hello Tweets,

Today we enjoyed the company of Dennis Murphy of Delaware,as he joined us birding to Ocean Shores and surrounding areas. We helped Dennis work on his "Big Year" during his week visit to Washington,which today he added 13 species! In addition we worked on our growing Grays Harbor Co. year list for 2007,which was equally enjoyable. The weather remained great all day with little wind at all at Ocean Shores and pleasant conditions. Our route consisted on beginning the day in the Elma-Brady Loop Rd. area then spending the main portion of the day at Ocean Shores with a brief stop made at the Hoquiam STP on our way home. Our main highlight of the day was an adult SNOWY OWL observed between 2pm-3:30pm atop an evergreen tree just east of the Damon Point"pond" at Damon Point. This bird was originally spotted from the small parking area at the base of Damon Point,where it remained atop one of two evergreen trees. We were able to get great photos of the bird,as we made the walk from the parking area to the other side of the fenced area of the S.S.Catala. As we walked behind the ship near the Damon Point pond we were surprised to be able to walk across onto the other side to reach the paved road without going around the entire pond. Sand has filled in the canal where the saltwater as met the pond,but we don't know how long this will last. Anyhow, we were able to walk on the paved road,as we got closer to the Snowy Owl and the bird just sat atop the tree without being disturbed. We essentially left the bird atop the same tree as we walked back to our vehicle. It was a great bird to see,especially as we did not expect to see this species at Damon Point since there is not an "invasion" this winter.We recall Tim O'Brien reporting a second hand report of a Snowy Owl onto Tweeters shortly after the Grays Harbor CBC in late December,so perhaps this is the same bird. A single PALM WARBLER was independently observed from the same location where the Snowy Owl was seen in a dense Scot's Broom thicket amongst a scattered flock of Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Also a Ocean Shores while birding behind the Ocean Shores STP at the Oyhut Wildlife Area Dennis spotted a nice 1st winter plumaged GLAUCOUS GULL,as it walked around the near distant sandy spit as we looked eastwards from the tall fluorescent orange navigation tower. We watched the bird for several minutes while also scanning the inner bay for various waterbird species before we decided to head to Damon Point. It was a nice,clean bird and a distance without binoculars appeared all white and having scope views of the bird added much more detail.

Additional highlights of the day began with 2 GREEN HERONS observed along the tree-lined edges of the eastern most pond at Vance Creek Co. Park. These birds were observed together along the extreme eastern edge of the pond,where they perched in trees after being flushed by several trail walkers. It was a great winter surprise to see this species eventhough 2 birds were observed during the Satsop CBC on the 26th of December. We were unable to relocate the female Redhead observed by us on the 31s of January at this same location,but a small assortment of both Greater and Lesser Scaup still persisted.

Other highlights of the day included the following:

1 Am.Bittern at the Cabana Pond(Ocean Shores)

1 immature SNOW GOOSE(with 8 Greater White-fronted Geese and a lone,but injured Cackling Goose)at the Ocean Shores Golf Course.

50+ "Dusky"Canada Geese observed in two separate flocks along Brady Loop Rd.

9 Canvasback(with 12 Ruddy Ducks and 5 Western Grebes)off Damon Point in North Bay. A somewhat unusual location for Canvasback and Ruddy Ducks. 13 additional Ruddy Ducks were encountered at the Hoquiam STP.

1 adult ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK continuing along Foster Rd.(Brady Loop Rd.)

1 "Taiga"Merlin near Bill' Spit at Ocean Shores with an additional "Black"Merlin observed near the Hoquiam River at Hoquiam

1 adult Peregrine Falcon near Brady Loop Rd. with an additional adult bird noted at the Hoquiam STP

1 Spotted Sandpiper observed at a traditional winter location along the Hoquiam River at Hoquiam(last species of the day)

15 ROCK SANDPIPERS, 30+ Surfbirds and 10 Black Turnstones at the Ocean Shores Jetty

2 Barn Owls observed in a barn near Brady Loop Rd. and accessed by permission from an obliging landowner

1 Red-breasted Sapsucker continuing at tree "wells" on private property along Twidwell Rd.(near Elma)

1 Anna's Hummingbird at the Ocean Shores Golf Course

1 Western Meadowlark along Brady Loop Rd. with 3 additional birds noted at the Ocean Shores Golf Course and 4 birds along Paulson Rd. just north of the Hoquiam STP

14+ Red Crossbills observed near Point New(in a forested housing area west of Bowerman Basin)

3 Purple Finches along Paulson Rd. near the Hoquiam STP



A great day with some unexpected sightings on our first visit to Ocean Shores this year!


Good birding,

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