Sara and I were out biking the cranberry bog route between Grayland and Tokeland yesterday. It was a sunny afternoon, with only a mild wind. They have begun harvesting the cranberries, by the way. Afterwards, with a spotting scope, we went to Bottle Beach (Westport) at around 5:30 PM at fairly high tide. We saw:
* Easily a thousand, maybe more, marbled GODWITS at the Tokeland pier, on the shoreline in roughly 3 flocks
* 8 WILLETS in marsh at Bottle Beach
* 1 SPOTTED SANDPIPER near the willets - what a great wagtail bobbing action - it was absolutely constant!
* 2 birds on bottle beach that seemed to be either ruddy tunstones ??? or maybe a small plover like snowy plover ??? got a good look in the scope, one seemed female with clear light gray markings, the other may be juvenile or at least in intermediate plumage with spotted belly and lots of mottle swirls around the face that seemed to suggest the turnstone. Any ideas? gray legs, short black beak, black eyes, the female decidedly of very light gray above (not brown) with clear white belly. The other with lots of black spots and unclear markings. They didn't fly or even move much. I digiscoped a photo which I could show next Monday if anyone willing to correspond with me in email (I am using a public PC in Ocean Shores Community Club now, unable to download photos).

Rebecca Laszlo
rebecca.laszlo at microsoft.com
Seattle WA