Subject: [Tweeters] Shorebirds on Coast: Red Phalarope at Midway Beach
Date: May 21 15:47:37 2009
From: Eric Huston - amdipper at hotmail.com



This is a perfect time for me to answer Dan's question about shorebird sightings on the coast.

I went out that way today, starting at Bottle Beach. I arrived at 9:30, which put me roughly 90 minutes ahead of high tide. As the tide came in, there were numerous shorebirds there, including a LOT of Red Knots...somewhere in triple digits to be sure. Also a bunch of Black-bellied Plovers, Dunlin, Western Sandpipers, and a few Greater Yellowlegs.

I next visited the fishing pier area in Westport, looking for rockpipers. The only shorebird I saw there was a Spotted Sandpiper.

My final stop of the morning was Midway Beach. There is a large puddle blocking access to the beach its self from the parking area unless you have wading boots, which I did not. But the puddle was quite good. There were three Tundra Swans at the north end of the puddle, and on the far side directly across from the gate at the parking area, I counted 44 Red-necked Phalaropes. There were also Dunlins and Western Sandpipers. As I was scoping the birds on the far side, a Red-necked flew in right past me and landed less than 20 feet away, followed by a second phalarope, which turned out to be a breeding plumaged female Red. She stayed quite close for the next ten minutes or so, and even approached me to within 10 feet. This was the first Red Phalarope that I have seen in breeding plumage, quite an impressive looking bird.

Good birding all,

Eric Huston
Olympia

_________________________________________________________________
Hotmail? goes with you.
http://windowslive.com/Tutorial/Hotmail/Mobile?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_HM_Tutorial_Mobile1_052009