Hi Tweets,



Barbara and I spent Wednesday and Thursday birding in Grays Harbor County -- save for a Thursday afternoon run to Tokeland and along the north shore of Willapa Bay. Like lots of others, we used to rely on the reports that Patrick and Ruth Sullivan wrote about their trips to Grays Harbor. We miss Patrick and those reports; we hope this report is useful, though like most people we just don't know Grays Harbor the way Patrick did.



Our route took us Wednesday briefly to Nisqually NWR, then to Newman Creek Rd west of Elma, to the Schouweiler Marsh nearby, the Brady Loop, Friends Landing on the Chehalis River, the Hoquiam Treatment Plant, and then Ocean Shores for the balance of the day. Thursday we started at the Westport Marina, then to Westhaven SP in Westport, then Bottle Beach, the marsh on Third O'Costa St, Twin Harbors SP, Midway Beach, Warrenton Cannery Road, Tokeland, and SR 105 as far as the North River. The weather Wednesday started cool and cloudy, but warmed to the mid 50's with afternoon sun and no wind at Ocean Shores. Thursday was cool and windy with showers and temps in the low 50's; we were happy to have our winter clothes. We found 101 species.



Shorebirds were around -- though not on Brady Loop, where we only had about two dozen Least Sandpipers. (There was a flock of about 100 American Pipits there.) We briefly shared Bottle Beach Thursday morning with about 5000 shorebirds -- long enough to see both dowitchers, Black-bellied Plover, lots of Dunlin, some Western Sandpipers and some Leasts. But we were interrupted by the arrival of a Bald Eagle (quickly escorted away by several gulls), followed by a Peregrine Falcon that made a couple of passes over the beach and scared the entire flock across the water toward Damon Point. (We were surprised at how much the winter storms changed Damon Point. If you want to go out to the point be sure to watch the tide, as signs warn that high water may delay your return.) At Tokeland the Marbled Godwit flock has grown to around 800-1000 birds, plus lots of dowitchers, Dunlin and a couple of lingering Willets; We found no Long-billed Curlews, so they are presumably in the Columbia Basin or other breeding areas. Though we checked along the north shore of Willapa Bay we weren't able to find any Red Knot; apparently they haven't arrived yet. We did find 36 Greater Yellowlegs near the mouth of the North River. We did find a few Whimbrels and some smaller peeps at Tokeland's Graveyard Spit. On the jetty at Ocean Shores looking into the afternoon sunlight we made out a dozen Surfbirds, a few Black Turnstones, and perhaps one Ruddy Turnstone that stayed mostly out of sight. At Westport Marina on Thursday morning we found a dozen Black Turnstones and watched a Merlin fly down a Least Sandpiper and then return thirty minutes later for a second helping.



As to waterfowl, we saw a single Brown Pelican on the Westport Jetty. There were lots of Common Loons -- one displaying bird collided with a fishing boat at Westport Marina and was injured; we watched it haul itself out of the water and I threw a few crab parts at the gull that harassed it until the rising tide refloated the loon. Later it hauled itself out of the water again. We saw four Red-throated Loons, at Damon Point but no Pacifics. We saw also small numbers of grebes: Pied-billed, Red-necked, Horned, and Western. Many of the winter geese and ducks are still present, we saw two large flocks of Canada Geese overhead, maybe 600 birds in all, and flocks totaling about 400 Brant; there were twenty Greater and two Lesser Scaup at the Hoquiam ponds, accompanied by two Canvasback, and Ring-necked Ducks were at most of likely spots. We found large numbers of the dabbling ducks all around Grays Harbor, plus a Eurasian Wigeon at Willapa Bay. Though we found only four Black Scoters, there were still two dozen White-winged and hundreds of Surf Scoters. We found no goldeneyes, but there were still Bufflehead. Lots of sharp-looking Red-breasted Mergansers.



We saw no flycatchers or swifts; there were a few Barn Swallows, and a few more Violet-green Swallows, with lots of Tree Swallows only at Nisqually NWR where we spent just a short time. There were Savannah and White-crowned Sparrow arrivals, and the Golden-crowned Sparrows with full golden crown stripes look ready to head north. We saw multiple Orange-crowned, Yellow-rumped, and Townsend's Warblers, and the Common Yellowthroats are staking out territories in wet areas.



Species list:

Red-throated Loon

Common Loon -- perhaps 30 birds

Pied-billed Grebe

Red-necked Grebe -- one at Damon Point

Horned Grebe

Western Grebe

Brown Pelican

Double-crested Cormorant

Brandt's Cormorant

Pelagic Cormorant

Great Blue Heron

Brant

Cackling Goose

Canada Goose

Wood Duck

Eurasian Wigeon

American Wigeon

Gadwall

Green-winged Teal

Mallard

Northern Pintail

Cinnamon Teal

Northern Shoveler

Canvasback

Ring-necked Duck

Greater Scaup -- two at Hoquiam Pond

Lesser Scaup

Black Scoter

Surf Scoter

White-winged Scoter

Bufflehead

Hooded Merganser

Red-breasted Merganser

Turkey Vulture

Osprey

Bald Eagle

Northern Harrier

Red-tailed Hawk

Merlin -- one at Westport Marina

Peregrine Falcon -- 3 total, one each at Tokeland, Bottle Beach, and Ocean Shores

Ring-necked Pheasant

American Coot

Black Bellied Plover

Killdeer

Short-billed Dowitcher

Long-billed Dowitcher

Marbled Godwit

Whimbrel -- 4 at Graveyard Spit, at least two at Tokeland Marina

Willet -- a few at Tokeland Marina

Greater Yellowlegs -- 36 feeding near the North River in Willapa Bay

Black Turnstone

Sanderling

Surfbird

Western Sandpiper

Least Sandpiper

Dunlin

Mew Gull -- a few at Westport, c. 100 at Tokeland

Ring-billed Gull -- c. 200 at Tokeland and Willapa Bay

California Gull -- one at Damon Point

Glaucous-winged Gull

Western Gull

Glaucous Gull -- one sub-adult at Tokeland

Caspian Tern -- a few at Grays Harbor, c. 100 at Tokeland

Pigeon Guillemot -- perhaps 200 at Oyhut Game Range and Westport Marina

Rock Pigeon

Rufous Hummingbird

Belted Kingfisher

Red-breasted Sapsucker -- banging on a metal gate on Newman Creek Rd

Downy Woodpecker

Pileated Woodpecker -- on Newman Creek Rd

Tree Swallow -- perhaps 50 at Nisqually NWR

Violet-green Swallow -- small numbers around Grays Harbor

Barn Swallow -- about six seen

American Pipit

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Bewick's Wren

Winter Wren

Marsh Wren

American Robin

Varied Thrush -- one at Schouweiler Marsh

Black-capped Chickadee

Steller's Jay

Western Scrub-Jay

American Crow

Common Raven

European Starling -- some even looked good in the sunlight at Hoquiam

House Sparrow

Purple Finch -- 2 on Newman Creek Rd

House Finch -- several at Tokeland

Pine Siskin -- Twin Harbors SP

Orange-crowned Warbler -- two at Twin Harbors SP, one at Bottle Beach

Yellow-rumped Warbler -- 1 Myrtle at Schouweiler Marsh

Townsend's Warbler -- 2 at Twin Harbors SP

Common Yellowthroat -- seen and heard at least five sites

Spotted Towhee

Savannah Sparrow

Song Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

Golden-crowned Sparrow

Red-winged Blackbird

Brown-headed Cowbird



Good birding!

Paul Webster

Seattle

paul.websterATcomcast.net