Birders,

On Thursday, Aug 20, 8 intrepid birders left Kelowna, and headed for the Sumas border crossing in Sumas. We crossed over into the USA no problem. The drive to Seattle was slow and frustrating. We picked up Michael Force from a grassy lawn beside the McArthur2 docked up on the waterfront. We carried on, very slowly to Olympia, and then had dinner at Galloping Gertie's Bar and Grill before checking in to the motel. Not many birds today other than a couple of flyby BAND-TAILED PIGEONS in Hope, BC and N. of Seattle.

Aug 21 we left the motel in Olympia nice and early and made our way to the coast. First stop was at Point Brown in Ocean Shores. On the rocky jetty here we had excellent looks at juvenile SURFBIRDS, RUDDY TURNSTONES, BLACK TURNSTONES and a distant WANDERING TATTLER. Out in Grays Harbor we had all sorts of SURF, WHITE-WINGED and BLACK SCOTERS, RHINOCEROS AUKLETS, PELAGIC, DOUBLE-CRESTED and BRANDT'S CORMORANTS, HEERMAN'S GULLS and WESTERN GULLS and BROWN PELICANS. Farther out over the breakers were hundreds of SOOTY SHEARWATERS.

Next stop was at the Oyhut Game Reserve where we luckily hit the high tide just right. Flocks and flocks of WESTERN SANDPIPERS came in to rest in the lagoon inside the reserve. By high tide we estimated somewhere around 10,000 Westerns were swirling around in front of us as an immature PEREGRINE FALCON chased them about. Amongst them were a few SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS, SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS, LEAST SANDPIPERS, a SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER and one PACIFIC-GOLDEN PLOVER calling overhead. Chris Siddle spotted a BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER overhead and we watched where it landed and had distant scope views. As we headed back to the beach to scan through the ducks, we flushed 3 WHIMBREL. Amongst the SURF, and WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS, Mike Force spotted a female KING EIDER! Also here was a young male HARLEQUIN DUCK and a female BLACK SCOTER. Over a distant hedge, 3 NORTHERN HARRIERS played in the wind along with an adult COOPER'S HAWK.

We then made the drive to Westport where we spent the night.

Aug 22 we awoke in the dark and assembled outside the Seagull's Nest Motel at 5:30 AM. We boarded the Monte Carlo at Pier 8 in Westport just before 6 AM and made our way out of Gray's Harbor as the sun rose. We were aboard a Westport Seabirds pelagic trip that took us 36 miles out to sea. As we made our way out of the harbor and over the bar, the swells were quite large, triggering a few of us to get seasick. I was one of the lucky seasick birders aboard this pelagic. Not fun. At least I could still muster up enough to look at the birds. Highlights were many today! We had thousands of SOOTY SHEARWATERS in the near shore waters. Amongst them a MANX SHEARWATER was picked out! A little farther out we encountered thousands of PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATERS with a few stunning BULLER'S SHEARWATERS mixed in. A FLESH-FOOTED SHEARWATER sat on the water beside the boat! We had several good looks at POMARINE JAEGERS and one nice juvenile LONG-TAILED JAEGER. About 5 SOUTH POLAR SKUAS were seen well. Small numbers of ghostly pale FORK-TAILED STORM-PETRELS accompanied the masses. Dozens of SABINE'S GULLS sailed by while RHINOCEROS AUKLETS and CASSIN'S AUKLETS fired by like canon balls. Dozens of monstrous BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS were atracted right to the rear of the boat with chum and we got within a few feet of these stunning birds. Also brought in by the chum were several NORTHERN FULMARS of different plumages. Small gatherings of RED-NECKED PHALAROPES alighted on the water as we sailed by. Near the dock as we returned to shore, a second summer GLAUCOUS GULL was seen. We had an excellent marine mammal show as well. HIghlights included at least one KILLER WHALE, 1 GRAY WHALE and numerous HUMPBACK WHALES. PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHINS were fairly common and some observers saw NORTHERN RIGHT-WHALE DOLPHIN. STELLER'S SEA-LION and HARBOR SEAL were also on the list. We saw BLUE SHARK swimming beneath the albatross.


Aug 23

We birded the area south of Westport today, starting off at Midway Beach where there were thousands upon thousands of gulls on the beach. We studied them long and hard and came up with many thousands of HEERMANN'S GULLS, WESTERN GULLS and CALIFORNIA GULLS. There were a few RING-BILLED GULLS peppered in. We had one immature MEW GULL and lots of GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULLS...of course with many hybrids. Mike Force spotted a BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER feeding in the seaweed near the beach. We went in for a better look and I was able to obtain some good photos. Also here were several SANDPIERLINGS resting.
I found an adult COMMON MURRE on the beach that was being picked at by several gulls. I picked up the murre and carried hm back down to the ocean. He swam off with a lot of strength so hopefully he'll be ok. He left me with a couple of little souvenirs on my hands and arms. In the bushes near Midway Beach we had MARSH WREN, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, SONG SPARROW and SAVANNAH SPARROW.

Next stop was at North Cove Beach where there were again many gulls. Daryll spotted 3 WHIMBREL picking about in the driftwood here. In the rocks along the shore were a few WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS. In the brush on the opposite side of the road we found a BEWICK'S WREN, a WINTER WREN, 3 WILSON'S WARBLERS, 6 CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEES and a HUTTON'S VIREO.

At the Tokeland Marina were about 500 MARBLED GODWIT. With them were about a half a dozen WILLET. On the beach nearby were SURFBIRD, BLACK TURNSTONE, WHIMBREL, WILLET and several LEAST SANDPIPERS.

At Bottle Beach we had great looks at a flock of BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS at high tide. With them were SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS, WESTERN SANDPIPERS and several SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS.

We walked in to John's River Wildlife Area where there was really no water in the marsh so no birds. The drive back to Olympia that evening was quite uneventful. In the morning we awoke at 8 AM and drove home to Kelowna, arriving around 4 PM. Our trip list was around 108 species. I was able to get a few photos. Check them out at www.flickr.com/charlesworth30.

Here's our trip list:

Pacific Loon
Common Loon
Red-throated Loon
Horned Grebe
Black-footed Albatross
Northern Fulmar
Pink-footed Shearwater
Flesh-footed Shearwater
Buller's Shearwater
Sooty Shearwater
Manx Shearwater
Fork-tailed Storm-Petrl
Brown Pelican
Brandt's Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Green Heron
Canada Goose
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
King Eider
Harlequin Duck
Surf Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Black Scoter
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
Black-bellied Plover
Pacific Golden-Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Willet
Wandering Tattler
Whimbrel
Marbled Godwit
Ruddy Turnstone
Black Turnstone
Surfbird
Sanderling
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Baird's Sandpiper
Pectoral Sandpiper
Buff-breasted Sandpiper
Short-billed Dowitcher
Red-necked Phalarope
South Polar Skua
Pomarine Jaeger
Long-tailed Jaeger
Heermann's Gull
Mew Gull
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Western Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Glaucous Gull
Caspian Tern
Common Murre
Pigeon Guillemot
Cassin's Auklet
Rhinoceros Auklet
Rock Pigeon
Band-tailed Pigeon
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Northern Flicker
Hutton's Vireo
Steller's Jay
American Crow
Northwestern Crow
Common Raven
Violet-green Swallow
N. Rough-winged Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Bushtit
Bewick's Wren
Winter Wren
American Robin
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
MacGillivray's Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Spotted Towhee
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow



Tour participants:

Chris Siddle
Mike Force
Chris Charlesworth
Janna Leslie
Margaret Bryan
Judy Latta
Howard & Maria Braun
Daryll Myhr




That's all for now,


Chris Charlesworth
Avocet Tours
Kelowna, BC
www.avocettours.ca



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