Hello Tweets,

Today we discovered and photographed an adult male ACORN WOODPECKER near Oakville in eastern Grays Harbor Co. The bird was observed between 11am-11:30am along Blockhouse Rd. in a private grove of trees inside a fenced area immediately north of Elma-Gate Rd. East. This location is located south of Hwy.12 and east of the town of Oakville. The bird was viewed from outside the fenced area just north of a utility box along the west side of Blockhouse Rd. and north of Elma-Gate Rd East. A large parking area exists on the east side of Blockhouse Rd. from where the Acorn Woodpecker was viewed and owned by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife labeled as Moe Farm. The entire grove of trees where the Acorn Woodpecker was viewed is fenced along Elma-Gate and Blockhouse Rds. and we felt fortunate to get the photos we did of the bird. The bird was very jumpy and made many quick flights from tree to tree within the fenced area,but seemed to favor the oak trees the most. The habitat at the location is very mixed with stands of oak and other deciduous trees followed by several evergreen trees too. It was an exciting find for us,as we originally visited this location in search of Lazuli Bunting,which we were able to locate a single adult male in the brushy area along the east side of Blockhouse Rd.

The Acorn Woodpecker never called or vocalized in any manner and never interacted with any other birds at the location,but it is possible the bird could continue for other birders to see. The bird is very visible when it flies showing off it's bold white wing patches,as well as white areas on the rump too. The bird could be hardest to see if it was behind a branch and only a portion of the trees are visible from both Blockhouse and Elma-Gate Rds. This highly appears to be the 1st record of Acorn Woodpecker for Grays harbor Co. and our personal first for western Washington too! We have placed 6 photos of the Acorn Woodpecker onto our website,which can be accessed from the following link: http://www.pbase.com/godwit/recent_photos/

Other notable species encountered while watching the Acorn Woodpecker included a pair of California Quail, 10 Mourning Doves and 6 Chipping Sparrows. Additionally, a flock of 15 Whimbrel flew over the location and continued westward in the direction of Satsop.


The rest of the day was spent birding several areas in eastern Grays Harbor Co.,as we worked on our personal Grays Harbor Co. year list for 2007 and just enjoying a nice overcast day out birding. Our primary efforts were made from the extreme southeast corner of Grays Harbor Co. along Howanut Rd. to the Brady Loop Rd. complex.


Additional highlights for our day included the following:


2 Green Herons at a wetland along Hwy.8 near Elma

5 Greater White-fronted Geese, 4 Cinnamon Teal, 3 Greater Yellowlegs, 1 Lesser Yellowlegs, 2 Solitary Sandpipers, 3 Least Sandpipers, 1 PECTORAL SANDPIPER and 8 Long-billed Dowitchers in flooded area along Monte-Brady Rd.(west of Foster Rd.).

3 Wood Ducks and 3 Greater Yellowlegs along Dunlap Rd.

1 Lesser Yellowlegs and 2 adult Spotted Sandpipers along the edges of a large pond(accessed from a Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife parking area along Hwy.12 east of Porter)

200 Whimbrel flying along Howanut Rd.,then 300 birds in a recently mowed field along the western portion of Wenzel Slough Rd.

2 Eurasian Collared Doves along the northeastern portion of Brady Loop Rd.



Good birding,

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