Hi folks,
A week ago, Thursday evening, I observed hundreds of shorebirds at Grayland
State Park south of Westport including Dunlins, Semipalmated plovers, Ruddy
turnstones, Whimbrels, Godwits, and Sanderlings. The following morning, I
watched at least a 100,000 Sooty shearwaters fly along the beach for over an
hour. There was also a feeding frenzy that included hundreds of loons
(mostly Pacific), pelicans, terns, gulls, and cormorants as well as a few
murres, guillemots, seals and sea lions.

Can anyone tell me more about the shearwaters? Are they always that close
to shore?

Thanks,

Jim Rogers

Polson, Montana
jimrogers2007 at gmail.com



On Thu, May 21, 2009 at 4:47 PM, Eric Huston <amdipper at hotmail.com> wrote:

> 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
>
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