Finally, a day off and some time to go out birding! I woke up early and drove up in the foothills north of the Elma/Satsop area. One Ruffed Grouse stood in the road on the lower portion of the A-2300 for me. Also, I saw many American Robins with a few concentrated flocks of 20 birds or more in some of the clearcuts. I did catch a couple Varied Thrush in the road as well.

At Bottle Beach, I was there from about 12:30pm to 2:30pm today. I only had a couple showers move through which made it nice. There was a lot of bird activity in the entire area. Shorebirds consisted of Greater Yellowlegs, Killdeer, Semipalmated Plover, Western and Least Sandpipers, Black-bellied Plover, and one lone Dunlin. Waterfowl were abundant in the water just off shore with American Wigeon and Northern Pintail being the most common. Surf Scoter, Mallard, and a few Green-winged Teal were present as well. I did catch two Wood Ducks in the canal near the end of the trail. In the trees, there were several Purple Finches and my first of the season Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Large flocks of Double-crested Comorants were flying over constantly while I was there.

On the way back to Aberdeen, I stopped in at the Bishop Athletic Complex to check for geese. I was surprised to find a nice wet grassy area just inside the entrance that hosted about 10 Killdeer and one Wilson's Snipe. Also, in the parking area on the gravel and on asphalt there were about 30 Least Sandpipers and 50 Semipalmated Plovers running around. I sure this was due to the high water. Still it seemed odd to see these shorebirds running around a parking lot.

Brady Loop was somewhat quiet with corn still present in some of the fields on the west side. I noted six Red-tailed Hawks and one American Kestrel. Also, two nice looking male Ring-necked Pheasants were about. I'm sure they are from the state's release area. One flock of Cackling Geese passed overhead while I was out there too. No water has accumulated on the Loop as of yet, but I'm sure it won't be long.

Good birding,

Tim O'Brien
Elma, WA
mailto: kertim7179 at yahoo.com



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