Tweeters,

Sidra Blake and I birded the Long Beach Peninsula on Saturday and Sunday. The birding was decent with notable species including Black-legged Kittiwake, Eurasian Wigeon, and Pacific Golden-Plover. However, we were also witness to the continued wreck of loons and grebes. We walked approximately 2 km and counted 24 Red-throated Loons, 4 Common Loons, 1 Common Murre, and 25 Western Grebes wrecked on beaches stretching from Cape Dissapointment to Leadbetter State Park. Most were soaked, with a large portion of their feather's waterproofing compromised, and in a weakened state. A few were already dead. We also observed many grebes and loons that were visibly soaked near shore battling the waves and surf. It appeared to us that they were "apprehensive" about beaching themselves (which must be entirely unnatural to a loon or grebe). We also found 4 Red-throated Loons crashed at inland sites (1 in a parking lot, 3 on Hwy 103 scattered between Ocean Park & Oysterville). It appears that they must have been able to get airborne but either due to their feathers being compromised or hypothermia induced fatigue (or both) crashed. While we sampled only a few sections of the beach from Cape Dissapointment to Leadbetter State Park we found over 50 wrecked grebes and loons. Even if the event is localized in southwest Washington, which it appears not to be, the number of birds affected must be a staggering number. In addition, as we found several crashed loons inland, it would suggest that wrecked number censused on the beach may not account for the full number of affected birds. What a drag!

I have posted a number of photos of wrecked birds on my blog:

http://www.thingswithwings.org/page20/page20.html

Highlights are as follows:

Sooty Shearwaters - a few from the North Jetty, Cape Disappointment (CD)
Dusky Canada Goose - ~ 20 JHB Columbian White-tailed Deer NWR
American Wigeon - 3000-5000 (one flock) Willapa Bay, from the WA State Wildlife Office east of Ocean Park
Eurasian Wigeon - 2 drakes in the above flock
White-winged Scoter - North Lighthouse CD
Harlequin Duck - 1 female from North Jetty, CD
Hooded Merganser - 2 males, 1 female JHB Columbian White-tailed Deer NWR
Peregrine Falcon - several
Bald Eagle - many, some feeding on wrecked grebes/loons
Black-bellied Plover - 200+ Leadbetter SP
PACIFIC GOLDEN-PLOVER - 5 Willapa Bay, from the WA State Wildlife Office east of Ocean Park
Semipalmated Plover - 20 Chinook Co. Park
Sanderling/Dunlin - 6000-10000, Willapa Bay & Leadbetter SP
Black-legged Kittiwake - 1 immature, North Lighthouse CD
Barn Owl - 1 roadkill near Sleepy Hollow, WA
Black-throated Gray Warbler - 1 Leadbetter SP

Cheers,

Tyler Hicks
Ridgefield, WA



Tyler L. Hicks


Ph.D. Student
Washington State University Vancouver

E-mail: tyler_hicks at wsu.edu
Web Page: http://thingswithwings.org

"We were certainly uncertain. At least, I'm pretty sure I am." - Modest Mouse


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