Hello Tweets,

Today we spent the day checking many areas from the Elma area to the Grayland area in Grays Harbor Co. Conditions were good throughout the day with calm weather and light rain while driving home this evening,but overall a great day of birding! Our main highlight of the day was a NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD observed in the small housing area immediately south of the Beachcomber Market and Deli along S.R.105 in Grayland. The bird was actually our last species of the day at 4:30pm after an earlier visit to Midway Beach Rd. The Northern Mockingbird perched atop a telephone wire,as we drove by and we were able to stop in the parking area of the Beachcomber Market and Deli to watch and photograph the bird until it decided to fly behind the housing area to a patch of trees. It was a great bird to see,as well as adding it to our 2007 Grays Harbor Co. year list too and we presume this could be the same individual bird observed at this same location over the past few years. Our last sighting at this location was on the 16th of July,2006.

Earlier in the day we enjoyed productive stops made in the Elma area beginning along FR 2300(accessed above Newman Creek Rd.)north of Elma. This area is well described by Tim O'Brien in a nice article he wrote in Washington Birder in Volume 12 #3(Fall 2004). Today's visit was experimental and although we didn't see many of the species that Tim describes in his article due to the time of day and season it was enjoyable to visit this unique area of Grays Harbor Co. The area takes you in vast clear-cuts and stands of younger stands of evergreen trees and during or visit we didn't encounter any logging activity. Our main highlight while exploring this area included a NORTHERN PYGMY OWL and a male WESTERN BLUEBIRD and we will hopefully visit this area again later in the winter and into the spring. A few of the other species we did observe include a Western Scrub Jay observed in the housing area near the end of Newman Creek Rd. followed by 2 Hairy Woodpecker and several small flocks of Red Crossbills. A single immature NORTHERN GOSHAWK delighted us by circling a few times over a forested hillside just north of Monte-Elma Rd. immediately west of Schouweiler Rd.

After spending time above Newman Creek Rd. we descended to lower elevations and made a nice stop along the western portion of Wenzel Slough Rd.near Satsop. Here, near an active fertilizer sprayer we located 5 GLAUCOUS GULLS in amongst a large flock of Glaucous-winged Gulls observed in grassy fields immediately west of the Goere's Farm property. The Glaucous Gulls consisted of one 3rd winter plumaged bird, one 2nd winter plumaged bird and three 1st year plumaged birds and were all easy to separate from the other gulls. In the same flock we were also able to locate 2 Western Gulls, 1 Thayer's Gull and 15 Herring Gulls along with a very few Ring-billed and Mew Gulls. A large blackbird flock was also nearby as we watched the gulls consisting of large numbers of Red-winged and Brewer's Blackbirds along with 3 Brown-headed Cowbirds in amongst the same flock.

Continuing westward we made a short stop along S.R.105 at Bottle Beach,where the WHITE-TAILED KITE was again seen perched on a short dead snag in open fields immediately north of the highway. Nearby, a visit along Ocosta Third Street produced a female CINNAMON TEAL, 2 calling Virginia Rails, 5 Wilson's Snipes and an immature WHITE-THROATED SPARROW. The Cinnamon Teal was most likely the same individual bird than observed on the 4th of February and at the same location in the heavily flooded area immediately south of Atlantic Ave. amongst a large gathering of Mallards and a few Northern Pintail. The White-throated Sparrows was observed amongst a flock of 4 Golden-crowned Sparrows approximately 2/10 of a mile south of S.R.105 in a small and limited bramble patch along the west side of Ocosta Third Street.

Later, we spent a few hours at Midway Beach Rd.,where we walked the open beaches after walking over more flooded areas,where we located 15 SNOWY PLOVERS along the upper tide line with plenty of beach debris. We also saw 3 separate park rangers at were issuing tickets to beach drivers that were driving too fast,etc., so it appears they are patrolling this area now more regularly. Other highlights observed at Midway Beach Rd. included 1-2 adult Peregrine Falcons, 12 Least Sandpipers, 8 "Streaked"Horned Larks and 4 Western Meadowlarks.

On our way home our last bird of the day was a NORTHERN PYGMY OWL observed along Hwy. 8 at MP 11.5 at 5:45pm in Thurston Co.(just east of the Grays Harbor Co. line and west of Summit Lake). The bird was observed atop an evergreen tree in part of a tree belt that separates the east and west bound traffic lanes of Hwy.8.



Good birding,

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