Hello All,
Ryan Shaw and I birded on the Long Beach Peninsula yesterday. Our first
birding was at Cape Disappointment State Park, a seawatch from the North
Head Lighthouse. The conditions were stunning, with no wind and clear skies.
Highlights there included a Manx Shearwater, an early Long-tailed Duck, and
13 Pomarine and 6 Parasitic Jaegers. Most of the birds were going after a
herring ball along the rip tide not far off the lighthouse. Also spread out
across the ocean were well over 1000 Western Grebes.

Next we headed up the peninsula, attempting some passerine birding in
Oysterville, but finding it pretty slow. At Leadbetter Point SP we started
walking up the bay side and birding the Salicornia flats. We had a juvenile
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper that flushed several times and called, and was
finally seen on the ground just briefly before flushing again. A flock of 8
Pectoral Sandpipers and a single juvenile Ruff were also found in the
Salicornia. An amazing count of at least 130 Lapland Longspurs was
constantly flying around the point.

That's about all,
Charlie Wright
Bonney Lake, Washington