Hi Tweeters,

Mason Flint and I headed out to the outer coast today, in search of late fall/winter specialties including any of the goodies posted recently by Khanh Tran and Ryan Merrill.

The day started out very nicely during an extended walk at the Game Range, Tonquin access. We were mainly searching out shorebirds, but our looks out at sea also proved productive. Among all 3 scoter species, we found a Long-tailed Duck, clearly displaying its long tail when in flight.

We then happened on a duck that was just as large, and perhaps more bulky than immediately adjacent White-winged Scoters. Its body was patterned much like most female dabbling ducks, but struck me as having more rufous tones. Its head shape was long and sloping like Canvasback, but the head lumped above the bill, different than the smooth connection of Canvasback. Our view was unfortunately too far away to discern bill feathering pattern and was brief before we lost it in the heavy seas. Though not on our radar and despite not finding a more recent Tweeters report than Sept 14, I believe this bird was the continuing female King Eider, first reported in July.

There were lots of shorebirds around the Game Range, including a couple dozen Semipalmated Plover, many many Dunlin, many Least and a few Western Sandpipers, a few Black-bellied Plovers, and surprising to me were Black Turnstones mixed in on sandy habitat (not so surprising after experiencing the increasingly stormy conditions).

On the way back to the car, I tried out my new hip waders by crossing the tide-pool by the Tonquin Ave entrance. I learned that while most was relatively shallow, several spots dropped precipitously into chest-high water, flooding my waders and drenching me and my camera!

The rest of the full day also proved to be a shivery, wet-optics wash, as the rain became non-stop and the wind picked up. We hit several other Ocean Shores stops and finished at Tokeland Marina, Graveyard Spit (busy but too distant views under the conditions) and Midway (completely flooded) and Grayland (drivable) Beaches. We did add Marbled Godwit (distant), Long-billed Dowitcher, Wilson's Snipe, and Killdeer to our shorebird tally at the Tokeland Marina. But we dipped on all 11 of my sought-after targets, ranging from difficult but reasonable (Rock Sandpiper, Snowy Plover, Red Phalarope, Palm Warbler) to fanciful (Snowy Owl). Yowch!

Good birding,
Evan Houston
Seattle, WA