Seven of us birded the coast on a WOS trip Monday Monday, 5/4/09.

We arrived at Bottle Beach about 2 hours before high tide. The weather was still in our favor.
Highlights at Bottle Beach:
Red Knot - 30 plus
Short-billed Dowitcher
Western Sandpiper
Semipalmated Plover
Greater Yellowlegs
Killdeer
Ruddy Turnstone - 4
Long-billed Curlew - 1
Black-bellied Plover - fabulous plumage!
Eurasian Collared-Dove - 1 or 2
Brown Pelican - a few

We drove down Smith-Anderson Road near North Cove in hopes of seeing Western Bluebirds. No luck. But in the vicinity we did see MOURNING DOVE and BAND-TAILED PIGEON. With the EC Doves at Bottle Beach and Rock Pigeons seen at various locations, it made for a 4 dove day.

In the Tokeland area we saw a nice variety of birds including:
Marble Godwit
Whimbrel - 30 or more
Ruddy Turnstone - 50 or more!!
Red Knot - 30 plus
Merlin - 1 in flight
Greater and Lesser Scaup males together in the harbor for nice comparisons.

At Midway Beach we repeatedly heard an unmistakable SORA. SOOTY SHEARWATERS were barely offshore in tremendous numbers. One LEAST SANDPIPER. Lots of SANDERLINGS in various plumages.

Then the weather came in. Wind and rain. The only bird of note we had at the Westport Marina was a lone SPOTTED SANDPIPER among the rocks.

On the way home, Brady Loop was a bust as was Wentzel Slough. One highlight was a single LINCOLN'S SPARROW.

Marv Breece
Seattle, WA
mbreece at earthlink.net