Hi Tweets,

Okay, the subject line embellishes a bit. Ruth Sullivan and I just
returned from two days of birdying around Grays Harbor. We started
in Ocean Shores Sunday morning (7-25-10). The weather was perfect
but we jumped the gun a bit on the migratory masses. We arrived but
they did not. That being said, yesterday's birdying was pretty
decent. We went at the Game Range from the Damon Point side and had
lots of peeps in one of the ponds. It was a nervous flock, however.
It would alight, start to feed, and then take off swirling and
flashing white undersides, only to settle for another few minutes of
feeding before taking off again. And, of course, the flock was on
the far side of the pond. We could determine that they were mostly
Least Sandpipers but if there was an oddball or two among them, we
never got the chance to observe them. There were Greater and Lesser
Yellowlegs, Silent-billed Dowitchers, and four Marbled Godwits. We
watched two Turkey Vultures and two Northern Harriers have an aerial
encounter. We then drove around to the Sewage Treatment Plant and
entered the Game Range there. We saw 17 Semi-palmated Plovers and
then it all kind of dried up. There were the usual gulls along the
jetty--Heermann's, Western, California, Glaucous-winged, but not much
else. Bill's Spit was covered in gulls and Caspian Terns with a
couple of Mallards and maybe 20 Least Sandpipers. A flock of Surf
Scoters, along with one White-winged Scoter, was out on the bay. We
returned to a Game Range pond about 8 p.m. and added 5 juvenile Semi-
palmated Sandpipers to the day's list. They were mixed in with a
much calmer feeding flock of Least Sandpipers. We saw a few Western
Sandpipers on the Game Range during the day.

This morning (7-26-10), from the Ocean Shores jetty, we had 3 Marbled
Murrelets, 3 Common Murres, 2 Western Grebes, 2 White-winged Scoters,
several Double-crested Cormorants, Least Sandpipers, Brown Pelicans,
and all of the expected gulls, with the majority being Heermann's.
At the Hoquiam STPs we saw lots of Barn and Cliff Swallows staging
for the push south. There was a small flock of Lesser Scaup and one
Hooded Merganser. We walked out to Midway Beach and saw more
swallows and one peep. No sign of Snowy Plovers. There were lots of
gulls around Tokeland but no Godwits or peeps. I thought I noted one
male Purple Martin as we drove into town. Ruth wanted to check on
the two PUMA boxes that she has on the dock by the boat ramp. She
walked up to one piling and tapped on it with her knuckles. I stood
back thinking, "Well that will really get their attention." No
response from the first nest-box, as I thought. Then she walked out
to the far piling, tapped again, and a female PUMA shot out of the
box with a great deal of agitation and dive-bombed Ruth a number of
times. She did not return to the box until we moved away. There may
be at least one clutch of coastal PUMAs before it is time for them to
return south. We talked of returning later in the fall with a couple
of more nest-boxes and an extension ladder. Four boxes would offer
more for a small colony.

We ended our birding with a walk out to Bottle Beach. It was nice
for me to see for the first time the bench dedicated to Patrick
Sullivan. The commemorative plaque is very nicely worded. We walked
out to the beach but there was zip, zero, nada on either the beach or
the water. Walking along the trail, we had American Goldfinches
feeding on the thistle, Song Sparrow, Common Yellowthroat, Robins,
and a male Purple Finch.

So our best birds were the two Semi-palms. End of the tale.

Carol Riddell
Edmonds