Subject: [Tweeters] Bottle Beach and Westport
Date: Sep 16 21:33:11 2007
From: louise_rutter at comcast.net - louise_rutter at comcast.net


Contrary to many recent reports, Bottle Beach today three hours before high tides was fabulous. Quite a number of shorebirds, and a big variety among them - large numbers of black-bellied plover in mixed plumages and western sandpipers, of course, alongside least sandpipers. But mixed in were an American golden-plover, a handful of black turnstones with two immature ruddies, three red knots, some sanderling, semipalmated plovers, at least seven short-billed dowitchers and some early returning dunlin. With the deteriorating weather, our WOS group also had sightings of black swift and purple martins from the beach. Many thanks to Patrick Sullivan for pointing them out while we were all peering into scopes! On top of all those, Patrick reported a ruff briefly in the creek area behind the beach, which we were unable to relocate after it flew. A green heron stood in full view in the pond beyond the flood on Ocosta Third Street, giving great photos.

We didn't find the bar-tailed godwit, or indeed any godwits at Westport today, at either the marina or the spit, and we checked both after early high tide and before the afternoon high. The second year glaucous gull was at the tip of the spit in the morning, but not in the afternoon.

We had a black-legged kittiwake off the observation platform at Westport marina, and a wandering tattler on the jetty at Westhaven State Park. The beach beyond the spit turned up twelve Baird's sandpipers foraging along the tide line.

A great day's birding along the coast, despite the onset of the rain!

Louise Rutter
Kirkland