Subject: [Tweeters] SW Washington weekend & Wood Sandpiper
Date: Oct 5 22:12:06 2008
From: Michael Woodruff - crazybirder98 at hotmail.com





Hi all,

This weekend my dad Roger and I decided to put some miles on the car and headed to SW Washington to chase down some targets and to bird some unfamiliar counties. We left Spokane Thursday evening and made it to Cape Disappointment in Pacific County by 3:30am Friday morning after some unsuccessful owling near White Pass west of Yakima. After a few hours of sleep in the car we were off. We got WET birding on the Long Beach Peninsula and a bit of Wahkiakum County.

At the North Jetty we had a juvie COMMON TERN looking really tired far up on the beach. Thirty mile an hour winds and piercing rain up on the jetty had us drenched but also gave us a couple Wandering Tattlers and close to 1000 Gr White-fronted Geese coming in over the ocean, and a flyby Greater Scaup. The WF Geese were really on the move all weekend almost everywhere we went. A Yellow Warbler was hanging with chickadees in the campground.

Headed north in Ocean Park we had a Western Scrub-Jay and a couple Caspian Terns. On the bay side there was a Lesser Yellowlegs, and Dad had a flock of a dozen Black Turnstones. We walked the marshes from Leadbetter Point SP in more intermittent rain. Lots of shorebirds including 200 Dunlin, 300 Western Sandpiper, 800 Least Sandpiper, 800 Sanderling, 15 Marbled Godwit, and 8 Semipalmated Plover. A Hutton's Vireo was with CB Chickadees, RB Nuts, GC Kinglets and Creepers near the parking area, and a pair of Peregrine Falcon came by as well.

Although the rain hadn't let up completely, we watched the ocean from the North Head Lighthouse for a short time. Visibility was horrible, but I had a BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE in close heading south with lots of Brown Pelicans and juvenile Heermann's Gulls.

>From Altoona in western Wahkiakum County, we got a few saltwater birds including 2 SURF SCOTERS and 3 PELAGIC CORMORANTS. Also a Herring Gull, lots of Common Loons, and a couple Horned Grebes. Several Brown Pelicans were on the horizon too far west out in Pacific County.

Around Julia Butler NWR we spotted one of our targets, a WHITE-TAILED KITE, perched lazily out in a snag. Not too much around the auto loop but did have a late Cinnamon Teal, 4 Greater White-fronted Geese, and a Virginia Rail calling. The wind and rain wasn't letting up at all by this time.

Saturday morning (10/4/08), we decided that we were only 120 miles from Eugene, so we headed south to Fern Ridge to join in on the birding convention that's taking place off of Royal Avenue. A HUGE thank you to everyone who's been guarding the parking lot! It was fantastic knowing our things were safe while we searched for the bird. Unfortunately we arrived at about 9am, about an hour after the Wood Sandpiper had disappeared. We hung around for almost 4 hours searching, but eventually decided to head back up and bird a bit more in Washington before the day was over. About 30 miles south of Portland, we both got a sick feeling as the cell phone rang. Yep, the Wood Sandpiper had shown up. We were caught in a tough dilemma, but made the quick decision to be hard-core crazy chasers for the day as we made a double-back and headed the 90 miles (ouch) back to Fern Ridge, where John Sullivan and Daniel Jacobson were waiting and still had the WOOD SANDPIPER in the scope. We watched it foraging around for an hour and a half with fantastic comparison with other species and very close study at times. A happy ending this time at least!

John has been fantastic host as birders have come from all over to chase his discovery. Thanks a bunch John! It was also great to see some old friends again while waiting for the sandpiper. In our two visits we also managed to see a number of other interesting birds, most of which have already been posted. Highlights included the Snowy Egret, several White-tailed Kites, a Black Phoebe, juvenile Short-billed Dowitcher, 2 Semipalmated Plovers, 3 Dunlin, 2 Peregrines, a Red-shouldered Hawk, Merlin, and a Vaux's Swift. What a fantastic place.

We spent the night again in the car near Oakwood in eastern Skamania County. This morning (10/5/08), things started out quick, and we had nearly 50 species in just a couple of hours before heading to Klickitat County. 200 GR WHITE-FRONTED GEESE flew over in Oakwood, where we had lots of woodland birds and lots of activity in a vineyard along Little Buck Rd. At the Spring Creek Hatchery we sorted through loads of Yellow-rumped Warblers and a couple Orange-crowned Warblers, and had one tree with a Yellow Warbler, a Townsend's Warbler, and a Black-throated Gray Warbler for some nice late-season variety.

Along the river near White Salmon (Klickitat Co.), there was a "Yellow-shafted" Flicker and an Eared Grebe. We sorted through lots of sparrows and warblers near the Port of Bingen and pulled out another OC Warbler, several Purple Finches, and a couple "Slate-colored" Fox Sparrows, as well as a Cooper's Hawk and a couple flyover Pipits.

Along the Old Hwy west of Lyle, there were a number of Lesser Goldfinches and several Western Bluebirds. We pulled up at the granary tree just east of Balch Rd, and as I scanned for a calling Hairy Woodpecker, a single ACORN WOODPECKER landed in a pine 150 yds north of the Hwy. Fantastic! We worked the area for an hour or so. Lots of Evening Grosbeaks, Purple Finches, and Western Scrub-Jays were around. We watched the granary tree for a while and finally had a couple ACORN WOODPECKERS flying to and from the lower portions. An additional highlight was a BOBCAT that stood on the shoulder of the road for some time before finally jogging across and into the bushes.

We stopped in at Brooks Memorial Park north of Goldendale and picked up Brown Creeper and Mountain Chickadee. A couple hundred robins were working the west side of the park feasting on berries, along with a Hermit Thrush and a "Slate-colored" Fox Sparrow. Farther north on Hwy 97 in Yakima County, a Lewis's Woodpecker was along the road. Then across from the entrance to Toppenish NWR, we spotted a Chukar calling from the slope. Finally we hit the road for Spokane after a fulfilling 3-day adventure.

Good birding!
Michael and Roger Woodruff
Spokane, WA

_________________________________________________________________
See how Windows connects the people, information, and fun that are part of your life.
http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/msnnkwxp1020093175mrt/direct/01/