Hello Tweets,

Today we led a combined field trip for the Black Hills Audubon and Tahoma Audubon Societies from the Elma area to Tokeland with a total of 104 species with 16 participants. The weather was actually quite good all day with just some morning drizzle for a short while turning to partly sunny skies by the late afternoon and no wind. The day went well with many highlights including some of our best species of the day noted in the Elma area beginning with a pair of REDHEADS at the eastern most pond at Vance Creek Co. Park. From Vance Creek Co. Park our load of 5 vehicles traveled west along Wenzel Slough Rd. and near the western end of this road we located a "BEWICK'S" SWAN amongst a large gathering of Trumpeter Swans with 6 Tundra Swans. The "Bewick's Swan was located just east of the Wenzel Slough/Keys Rd. intersection in a large grassy field(south of Wenzel Slough Rd.)and offered good scope views for us all to see. The bird was also observed by Tim O'Brien,who we happened to run into who saw the bird from a different vantage point. This bird is most likely the same individual bird than we noted during the Satsop CBC on the 26th of December,2006,which is about 5 miles southeast from this location as the bird flies. Whatever the case it was a great surprise for the day and hopefully it may continue in the immediate area for other birds to see! During our observations of the bird we noticed the bird primarily foraging on grass just north of a farm complex in amongst the swan flock and didn't seem to move around alot. Also noted in the same vicinity of the "Bewick's" Swan were 6 Greater White-fronted Geese in amongst large numbers of both Canada and Cackling Geese. A nice scattering of large gulls at this location also yielded a 1st winter plumaged GLAUCOUS GULL as the main gull highlight. After birding Wenzel Slough Rd. we made a drive along the entire Brady Loop Rd. complex,where 2 additional Glaucous Gulls were noted and both present together in amongst a gull flock along the eastern portion of the "loop". These two birds included a 2nd winter plumaged bird,as well as a 1st winter plumaged bird. 3-4 Herring Gulls and our only Thayer's Gull of the day were noted in amongst this same gull flock,as they all rested around the edges of a partially flooded area. Other notable species along the Brady Loop Rd complex included 40+ "Dusky Canada Geese, 1 adult dark-morph "Harlan's" Red-tailed Hawk, 1 female "Taiga" Merlin, 85+ Black-bellied Plovers, 19 Long-billed Dowitchers,and 15+ Western Meadowlarks.

Nearby and west of Brady Loop Rd. a side trip along Schafer Boom Rd. yielded a single male Eurasian Wigeon in a flooded area amongst a scattered waterfowl flock. As we connected back onto Hwy. 12 the lingering adult intermediate light-morph "Harlan's" Red-tailed Hawk was observed along the north side of the highway nearest a large billboard sign. This bird is highly likely the same individual bird that has continued in and around this same location for several years now,but is only sporadically seen. We continued westward and made our next major stop a the Johns River WRA,where we ate lunch. Here, we began with nice scope views of our only Spotted Sandpiper of the day on the opposite side of the Johns River,as we stood in the main parking area. Next, at Bottle Beach the lingering subadult WHITE-TAILED KITE was easily observed from it's favored perch in a field just north of S.R.105. This bird offered great views for all our group including a few observers it was a life bird! We made a short visit to check the wetland areas along Ocosta Third Street,where we attracted 4 calling Virginia Rails by tape-recordings,as well as the lingering female CINNAMON TEAL that has continued at this location since the 4th of February. The bird was surprisingly by itself mainly unlike past observations,but 3 Hooded Mergansers were nearby in the same area just south of Atlantic Avenue.

>From the Bottle Beach area we headed west then south,as conditions began to improve slightly. Our next stop was made at Warrenton-Cannery Rd. in Pacific Co.,where we located 3 SNOWY PLOVERS just north of the end of the road along with our only Sanderling of the day! The 3 Snowy Plovers contained one banded immature bird,while the other two bird were adults and unbanded. Nearby, in a residential area along this same road we were able to observed 2-3 Anna's Hummingbirds that were coming to a series of hummingbird feeders along with our only Purple Finch of the day observed nearby amongst other more common species. We continued south to the Tokeland Marina,where skies cleared considerable compared to further north. Here, we immediately located the wintering large flock of Marbled Godwits that contained 750+ bird along with 12 Willets that all gathered along the shores inside the marina. We also scoped a good portion of Willapa Bay,where added highlights including our first 2 "Black"Brant of the day flying back and forth in Willapa Bay itself,as well as 2 male Eurasian Wigeon present along the shoreline north of the marina. Before leaving Tokeland we made a worthwhile stop during outgoing tide along 7th Street across from the tip of Graveyard Spit. Here, we located up 6 LONG-BILLED CURLEWS that loosely associated with 15 Marbled Godwits. Offshore views of Willapa Bay from this location produced good numbers of more "Black" Brant that swan in the current line,as well as flew back and forth.

>From Tokeland we continued north to Westport after part of our group broke off and headed back to Olympia. The group that remained continued onto Westport with us,then ended the day with an evening visit to Bottle Beach at 6pm. At Westport conditions were very calm,as we checked in around the general marina area,as well as nearby Half Moon Bay. Our first good bird was the lingering adult light-morph "Harlan's" Red-tailed Hawk that was observed just north of Westhaven State Park atop one of two telephone poles. This is most likely the same individual than we noted back on the 17th of October,2006, as well as recently observed by Charlie Wright and Ryan Shaw. The general marina was fairly slow,although we added a few species to our day list including 5-6 Red-necked Grebes and 3 Pigeon Guillemots. We ended he day at Bottle Beach,where the White-tailed Kite was again present from it's perch in he same field north of S.R.105. Our only good bird from this location was brief,independent sighting of a SWAMP SPARROW for our last species of the day! This bird was present along the trail to Bottle Beach on both sides of the foot bridge,but was unresponsive to any "pishing" efforts etc.


Other notable species for the day included the following:

Red-throated Loon
3 birds at Tokeland
1 bird at Westport

Am.Kestrel
1 bird along Wenzel Slough Rd.
1 bird along Brady Loop Rd.
1 bird along Hwy.12 at Montesano

Peregrine Falcon
1 adult bird along Wenzel Slough Rd.
2 birds at Westport

Least Sandpiper
14 birds at the Westport Marina

Long-billed Dowitchers
7 birds(with 4 Dunlin)along Wenzel Slough Rd.
19 birds(with 1 Dunlin)along Brady Loop Rd.

Mourning Dove
5 birds along Key's Rd.(near Satsop)

Violet-green Swallow
10+ birds(with 40+ Tree Swallows)along Wenzel Slough Rd.

Western Scrub Jay
3 birds along 3rd Street at Elma

Townsend's Warbler
1 bird amongst a flock of Black-capped and Chestnut-backed Chickadees at the Martin Rd. Park and Ride in Lacey. Our only Brown Creeper of the day was also present at this same location.

Red Crossbill
12+ birds at Tokeland


Good birding,

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