Hi Tweeters,

I hiked over to Woodard Bay in Thurston county late this morning with my wife and son. I was curious to see if the Purple Martins were back yet (no sign of them). Upon arriving, we could see 40+ Great Blue Herons in the tidal river that runs parallel to the paved trail. When we came upon an opening in the trees again, I saw another 30 or so. There were even more visible from the end of the trail as well as in the bay and on some of the pilings. I counted a bit over 90 birds all told, and there were probably more that were hanging out along the river where the view was obscured by trees. That's a lot of herons! I wonder if a fish run was going on? In the bay, there were 11 or 12 Horned Grebes, most of which were in their breeding plumage; very striking. There was also 1 Common Loon, also in breeding plumage. There were still several Buffleheads about, along with Surf Scoters and a few Red-breasted Mergansers. Three Greater Yellowlegs were also present. There were !
35+ Har
bor Seals sunbathing or swimming about in the bay. It started raining hard after a while, so we headed back. On our return, I heard one Varied Thrush calling in the distance. The tide had receded by the time that we were returning to the car, causing the river to be little more than a narrow creek, and all of the herons were gone.

Good birding,

Lonnie Somer
Olympia, WA
wheelermombi at comcast.net