Tweeters,



My father flew in from Kansas for some Pacific Northwest birding. Him, Sidra Blake, and I hit several locations in western Washington over the past few days. The highlights are listed below.



August 7 - Steigerwald Lake NWR "new trail"



American Bittern - 1

Red-shouldered Hawk - 1



August 8 - Ridgefield NWR River "S" & Carty Units



Green Heron - 1 (Carty Unit)

Western Sandpiper - ~10

Least Sandpiper - ~10

Long-billed Dowitcher - 4

Barred Owl - 1 (Carty Unit)

Red-breasted Sapsucker - 4



August 9 - Olympic National Park Kalaloch, 4th, & Ruby Beach & Hoh Rainforest



Pacific Loon - 15

Red-throated Loon - 2

Common Loon - 40

Red-necked Grebe - 2

Horned Grebe - 2

Western Grebe - 4

Sooty Shearwater - 3

Pelagic Cormorant - 50

Brandt's Cormorant - 40

Surf & White-winged Scoters - 100's of both

Semipalmated Plover - 50

Western Sandpiper - 25

Black Turnstone - 1

Gulls - Heerman's, Herring, Ring-billed, Glaucous-winged, Western, & California - A lot

Common Murres - 1000's

Pigeon Guillemot - 40

Marbled Murrelet - 20 (some already in basic plumage others not)
Cassin's Auklet- 2

Rhinoceros Auklet - 80

Tufted Puffin - 2

Red Crossbills - many

Gray Whale - 2 at 4th Beach

Sea Otter - 1 at 4th Beach



August 10 - Olympic NP Hoh Rainforest (very rainy)



Band-tailed Pigeon - 2

Pileated Woodpecker - 5 (they don't look as big when they are on a massive Doug Fir)

Warbling Vireo - 1

Varied Thrush - 2

Oregon Dark-eyed Junco - nesting! (late)



August 11 - Olympic NP Hoh Rainforest, Ruby, 4th, & Kalaloch Beach, Quinalt Lake, Campbell Tree Grove USFS (foggy)



Wood Duck - 20

Sooty Grouse - 4

Black Oystercatcher - 2

Barred Owl - 2 (in old-growth forest - seem more like Spotted Owl country)

Common Nighthawk - 4



August 12 - Campbell Tree Grove USFS, Ocean Shores



Loons (All three flavors) - many of each

Northern Fulmar - 1 dead on beach at Damon Pt.

Pink-footed Shearwater - 1 at OS jetty

Sooty Shearwater - 2000-4000 off OS jetty

Brown Pelican - 140

"Queen" Eider - still in her usual spot

Scoters (Surf & White-winged) - 40-50 of each

C. Merganser - 2

Semipalmated Plover - 10

Western Sandpiper - 50

Ruddy Turnstone - 3

Black Turnstone - 15

Surfbirds - 20

Dunlin - 4

Gulls - same as on the 9th

Caspian Tern - 30

Alcids - Common Murre, Marbled Murrelet, Rhinoceros Auklet, Pigeon Guillemot, & Tufted Puffin



We ended up with ~ 125 species for the trip.



Cheers,



Tyler Hicks

Ridgefield, WA


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Tyler L. Hicks



Ph.D. Candidate
Washington State University Vancouver

E-mail: tyler_hicks at wsu.edu
Web Page: http://thingswithwings.org
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"We were certainly uncertain. At least, I'm pretty sure I am." - Modest Mouse


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