Alan Grenon and I had a nice day out at the coast today. The day started
off well on Brady Loop Road with a couple small groups of Tundra Swans,
several Varied Thrushes, an Audubon's Warbler feeding on a bug-zapper, and a
Western Scrub-Jay.

Alan spotted another scrub-jay while driving through Hoquiam. The Hoquiam
STP had a few Lesser Scaup mixed in with many Greater Scaups, 18 Canvasback,
a few Ring-necked Ducks, a Pied-billed Grebe, and a Ruddy Duck. Also
present were close to a hundred Pine Siskins along the road - no redpolls
that we could find. Bowerman Basin was fairly quiet, though there were a
lot of Fox Sparrows out on the boardwalk near where it splits for the loop -
over a dozen in a pretty small area hopping around through the leaves. In
the mud were many Dunlin and some Black-bellied Plovers.

At the Ocean Shores Jetty we spotted some distant shorebirds flying up to
avoid the waves out near the tip. Fortunately there was a much closer group
that included a Surfbird and 2 Rock Sandpipers. There was a male
Long-tailed Duck close to the jetty with a few Surf Scoters. A Steller Sea
Lion was impressive and fun to watch in the waves, while a large, very light
immature gull was too distant to identify. Nearby on the beach we found
five dead birds, each a different species, including a Northern Fulmar,
Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel, and Cassin's Auklet.

The Ocean Shores STP contained at least 62 Northern Shovelers in addition to
a few other ducks. Damon Point was pretty quiet. We did find 2 Least
Sandpipers, 2 more Audubon's Warblers, and watched a Peregrine Falcon flying
over the water. Near Bill's Spit there was a Hermit Thrush was along the
road.

Ryan Merrill
Kirkland, WA