Hello Tweets,

Today we enjoyed another great day birding along the outer coast with Jim Pruske. Our route consisted of the southern portion of Grays Harbor between the Johns River WRA to Tokeland,where we encountered many highlights along with great weather too. With the 4th of July holiday approaching we also encountered alot of people,especially along the outer beaches near Grayland Beach State Park. It was great to check many of the locations we did since we normally don't begin looking for fall shorebirds until mid July. Overall we encountered a good diversity of species from two locations including Westport and Midway Beach Rd. that offered a good assortment of shorebird species and other birds from the remaining freshwater area that exists on both sides of the road east of the open beaches. Due to the presence of nesting Snowy Plovers these areas are only viewable from the road and large signs indicating the Snowy Plovers are visible north and south of Midway Beach Rd. Hopefully with the added presence of these signs the breeding population of Snowy Plovers will increase to some level although the presence of natural predators still exists.

One of our main highlights of the day was an immature YELLOW-BILLED LOON observed from Westhaven State Park at Westport at 10am. This bird was quite brown overall,but showed the a distinct dark ear patch on the block shaped head with an obvious straw-colored yellow bill. The palest areas on the bird were on he neck and face with darker areas on he back and it was quite distinctive when it was afloat. The bird was very active,as it dove almost all the time during our observation north of the Westport Jetty. It was an unexpected sighting for this date,although this species has been encountered during the summer before at Ocean Shores. A few other highlights from the Westport Jetty included a pair of HARLEQUIN DUCKS, 3 Common Loons, 4 WHIMBREL, 1 BONAPARTE'S GULL, and 2 Marbled Murrelets. A very few small flocks of Western Sandpipers flew by the jetty before flying off to the south past large numbers of surfers.

Another highlight for the day and probably our most unexpected sighting considering the location was a pair of WILSON'S PHALAROPES at the end of Midway Beach Rd. in Pacific Co. We first spotted the male Wilson's Phalarope in brief flight until it dove down into thick vegetation near freshwater margins north of the end of the road. We were unable to relocate this bird,but within 15 minutes of waiting we located the distinctive female bird after it flew in to the freshwater areas near the same location. We obtained photographs of this bird,as it calmly rested in the water fairly close to the road inside the posted Snowy Plover nesting area. We continued watching the female until it suddenly worked it's way towards the grassy vegetation then lifted a short ways further into the vegetation very near where the male landed earlier. We highly suspected that this pair of Wilson's Phalarope could nest at this location,despite this being a very rare occurrence. We also presumed that the male remained on the nest and it was only an accident that we saw it fly in and the female just roams around.We never did relocate the male Wilson's Phalarope,but did see the female again in the freshwater areas south of the road. It would be an exciting occasion if it proved that this pair of Wilson's Phalarope did breed here and not only for this very coastal location,but the scarcity of this species as a documented breeder anywhere in western Washington. This species is also very rare in Pacific Co.!

Also at this same location we encountered our greatest densities of shorebirds,primarily Western Sandpipers. We estimated approximately 400 Western Sandpipers in a few separate flocks that often whirled around. Upon a further and careful scoping of the freshwater areas we located several other species including a single adult SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER, 1 LESSER YELLOWLEGS(with 8 Greater Yellowlegs), and 3 LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS and 8 Least Sandpipers. 3 adult SNOWY PLOVERS were noted north of the end of Midway Beach Rd. including one adult female inside the nesting area. 3 "Streaked"Horned Larks were also observed at the end of Midway Beach Rd.

The NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD that has continued at Grayland for several years now was again present this afternoon,as it called and sang loudly from atop a tall evergreen tree in a residential area along Jado Place south of the Beachcomber Market and Deli. This location is very accessible along S.R.105 in the northern portion of Grayland and if the Northern Mockingbird is present it is vocal by mimicking other birds,but the bird can also be quite elusive and secretive too.

A morning walk along the paved trail at the Johns River WRA was nice with a scattered heard of 30 Roosevelt Elk including a mix of males,females and young that all grazed in grassy areas in or near the wetland area. The wetland area itself was quite full of water with no visible mudflats with dense areas of vegetation. A single male Am.Wigeon was the only visible waterfowl from this location. Nearby, along the muddy shoreline of the Johns River 5 Greater Yellowlegs and 5 Least Sandpipers were tallied. A singing Warbling Vireo was heard from riparian areas immediately south of the main parking area.

Our 2 slowest locations to mention for the day included Tokeland and Bottle Beach with no shorebirds present from either of these locations,except for 5 Least Sandpipers at Bottle Beach. We visited both of these locations during good tide conditions and do know conditions can change almost daily. Lastly, a visit to the flooded freshwater areas along Ocosta Third Street(south of Atlantic Ave.)produced a female Cinnamon Teal with one visible young and a female Wood Duck with 3 young.


Additional highlights noted during our great day included the following species:

Turkey Vulture
1 bird flying along S.R.8 east of Elma
2 birds flying over the Johns River WRA
3 birds flying over Westport
2 birds flying along S.R.105 north of Grayland
3 birds flying over Tokeland
2 birds flying over Midway Beach Rd.
2 birds flying over Bottle Beach
1 bird flying and S.R. 105 at Aberdeen
3 birds flying along Hwy.12 west of Montesano
3 birds fling along Wenzel Slough Rd.

Cooper's Hawk
1 bird flying along Hwy.12 west of Montesano

Northern Harrier
1 bird hunting over grassy areas at Midway Beach Rd.

Am.Kestrel
1 bird perched along Hwy.12 west of Brady



Good birding,

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