Hello Tweets,

Today we spent the day birding a few locations between the Tokeland and Porter in both Pacific and Grays Harbor Cos. Our main goal of the day was setting up 2 nesting boxes for Purple Martins at the Tokeland Marina. Here, we were joined by Sam Agnew,who helped us put both nest boxes up near the same location where a pair nested in an old tire attached to a pole. It was quite a chore to install the houses,but thanks to a local resident that had a tall ladder,which helped allot in placing the boxes high enough up on the poles. After successfully placing both nest boxes up on 2 different poles we counted 6 Purple Martins immediately visiting these new additions. We tallied 1 adult male and 5 female-type/immature male birds for a total of 6 birds,which were all very noisy. It seemed the male was far less vocal than the other birds,but was still very interested in the new nest boxes as were the other Purple Martins. A few Purple Martins still visited the old tire and it is possible a pair could still breed here. With our efforts hopefully the population of Purple Martins may increase at this location! It was a nice achievement for us! We kindly ask if any other birders visiting the Tokeland Marina this summer and observe the Purple Martins here that they post the birds activities and/or general sightings of the birds.

During our visit to the Tokeland Marina the tide conditions were quite low,but the tide was moving inward quite rapidly,which helped move shorebirds here around. Most notable shorebirds at this location were 4 WILLETS inside the marina area along with 2 LONG-BILLED CURLEWS, 3 Whimbrel and 500+ Short-billed Dowitchers that all foraged on exposed mudflats outside and north of the marina area. Scattered flocks of "peeps" were also observed in this area,which appeared to all be Western Sandpipers. A single injured female Greater Scaup was also observed in the marina area,as well as 3 Pigeon Guillemots. Nearby, a singing Warbling Vireo was located in the deciduous trees in the RV park immediately north of the marina along with an Olive-sided Flycatcher. A single Turkey Vulture soared over open areas north of the Tokeland Marina. A quick visit to shoreline views near Graveyard Spit produced 24 Whimbrel and a small flock of 15 Short-billed Dowitchers along with just a few Caspian Terns and Heermann's Gulls. Before leaving Tokeland we located 4 Greater Yellowlegs foraging in a canal west of the Shoalwater Bay Casino.

Continuing northward we made a nice stop at Midway Beach Rd.,where we ran into Cyndie Sundstrom,a state wildlife biologist conducting daily census counts for Snowy Plovers. Here, while talking with her we located 2 adult male Snowy Plovers,but were unable to locate any young birds. A few shorebirds foraged in wet,sandy areas near the dunes including 20 Semipalmated Plovers and a small gathering of Western and Least Sandpipers. We also located 3-4 "Streaked" Horned Larks at the end of Midway Beach Rd.

The NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD was again observed today in the neighborhood immediately south of the Beachcomber Market and Deli in Grayland. The bird was especially vocal today,as it imitated several bird species,as well as chased a single Am.Robin onto the east side of S.R.105 and out of it's territory. The Northern Mockingbird soon returned to the original location and loudly began singing again.

A short visit to Bottle Beach at near high tide produced 5 Marbled Godwits, 1 Whimbrel and 3 Short-billed Dowitchers. Nearby, in the wetland area along Ocosta Third Street 2 separate female Wood Ducks with young were noted of different ages. Our last stop of the day was made at the drying wetland area along Hwy.12 east of Porter in Grays Harbor Co. With a short walk down into this Fish and Wildlife Area we located several shorebird species including the following:

7 Killdeer
4 Greater Yellowlegs
1 Western Sandpiper
22 Least Sandpipers
20 Long-billed Dowitchers

A single female Wood Duck with 7 young,as well as a single Pied-billed Grebe were encountered at this location. Also present were good numbers of dragonflies including the following identified species:

Tule Bluet
Common Green Darner
Blue-eyed Darner
California Darner
Common Whitetail
Eight-spotted Skimmer
Chalk-fronted Corporal
Blue Dasher
Cardinal Meadowhawk
Striped Meadowhawk

On our way home we spent 2 hours in heavy traffic from Tumwater to Tacoma,which was extremely slow and tiresome. All in all it was a nice day with our main achievements met.



Good birding,

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