Subject: [Tweeters] ID help sought for various Ocean Shores birds
Date: Aug 9 22:46:35 2010
From: Rebecca Laszlo - minustide at live.com


Saturday afternoon (8/7) small bait fish (maybe grunion) were running in a
huge mass at the tip of the OS jetty. Whale were feeding upon them, right
beyond the waves, next to jetty, and many tens of thousands of a single
species of bird feeding. They flew in along the waves in a flock that
stretched miles in length. Four of us can't figure out the species - shaped
looking like murrelets in breeding plumage or small petrels. One of our
party thought there were some with light bellies, but not sure as they seem
pretty uniformly black. They make no audible calls. Slightly smaller than
Heerman's Gull size, maybe. All seemed black, incl. black feet. Wings taper
to a sharp point. Anyone know what these might be? Photos from digiscoping.



Then yesterday (8/8) we saw a loon on the bay side near Damon Point. Which
loon is this? I got a clear pics of this.



Then today (8/9) we saw what we believe are Red Necked Phalarope (2 of them
at Ocean Shores at Taurus beach approach, around 1pm today) - hanging out
near a small flock of westerns. Did we ID these phalarope correctly ?



Pics located here:
http://rlaszlo.smugmug.com/Animals/Ocean-Shores-Birds/13279116_ttNbi#9647046
91_GJngA

Site Password = "tweeters"



We are eager for identification help. Tx,



-Rebecca Laszlo, Seattle WA, minustide at live.com