Tom Aversa, Matt Dufort and I birded the coast from Hoquiam to South
Bend today where the big highlight was a Chestnut-sided Warbler at
Bottle Beach.

Our first stop was at the Hoquiam STP where the juvenile FRANKLIN'S
GULL was flycatching insects above the ponds along with several
Bonaparte's Gulls. On the ponds were 2 Blue-winged Teal & 25
Red-necked Phalaropes while several Yellow, Black-throated Gray &
Wilson's Warblers were in the trees to the north of the ponds.

At Bottle Beach within fifty feet from the parking lot was a
cooperative CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER that we watched for five minutes
before it retreated further into the bushes. Out on the flats as we
began scanning through the Black-bellied Plovers a Peregrine Falcon
flew by which caused all the shorebirds to take off in various
directions. In flight we saw a likely golden-plover but it kept
flying out over the bay, never to be seen again.

There were close to 40 Marbled Godwits in the marina at Westport. At
Midway Beach there were a few more Red-necked Phalaropes and a Baird's
Sandpiper. Many gulls and terns at North Cove and Tokeland but
nothing out of the ordinary with them. Another Peregrine passed by
North Cove. At the marina in Tokeland there was a pathetic total of
one Marbled Godwit (a gimpy bird with a hurt foot) along with four
Willets. The ponds at Potter Slough near South Bend had families of
Pied-billed Grebes & Hooded Mergansers, 12 Cinnamon & 5 Green-winged
Teal, a Northern Pintail, two Greater & one Lesser Yellowlegs, five
Long-billed Dowitchers, one Spotted Sandpiper & one Western Sandpiper.

I put a couple pictures of the warbler online:

www.flickr.com/photos/rjm284


Good birding,
Ryan Merrill
Kirkland, WA