Subject: [Tweeters] Pacific County Birding
Date: May 17 12:51:22 2010
From: Paul Webster - paul.webster at comcast.net


Hi Tweets,

It's a long way to the Long Beach Peninsula in Pacific County from Seattle,
but we make the trip more or less frequently because Barbara's mother lives
there. Recently we've not been able to spend our time there in all-out
birding, but we have gotten out for a few hours each visit -- once in March
when birding was good though though the weather was mostly vile -- and last
weekend with sun and mild temperatures. Actually, the birding on the
Peninsula is good all year, even now when the winter resident waterfowl and
the shorebirds are pretty well gone. The *Breakers Motel* north of Long
Beach has seasonal ponds between buildings C and D that attract birds, and
rooms in building D have great views for birders: last weekend we saw *Greater
White-fronted Goose*, *Cackling Goose*, a *Mallard* family, and *Bufflehead.
* A female followed by a male *Northern Harrier* cruised by, there were *
Killdeer*, *Greater Yellowlegs*, *Least Sandpiper*, *Long-billed Dowitcher*,
several *Red-necked Phalarope*, and a single *American Pipit*. *Northern
Rough-winged*, *Violet-green,* and *Barn Swallows* hawked insects over the
water, and a male *Ring-necked Pheasant* strutted his stuff in the tall
grass nearby. *American Robin*s and a *Northern Flicker* foraged on the cut
grass, *Rock Pigeons* sat on the roof, *White-crowned* and *Savannah
Sparrows* called, and *Orange-crowned Warblers* sang in the pines nearby.

The *Discovery Trail* alternates asphalt with boardwalk and runs all the way
from the Breakers Motel to Ilwaco on the southern end of the Peninsula,
about eight miles away, offering a good way to bird by bicycle. This time we
took the trail into the mixed deciduous-conifer forest near Ilwaco that has
a few good views down into a huge marsh we had only seen the edges of in
town. We heard *Sora* and *Red-winged Blackbirds* calling, and *Black-headed
Grosbeaks* flew back and forth across the marsh. On the trail itself we saw
*Western Wood-pewee*, *Pacific-slope Flycatcher*, *Winter Wren*, *Warbling
Vireo*, *Orange-crowned*, *Black-throated Gray*, and *Wilson's Warblers, *
and* Band-tailed Pigeon *flew overhead. On the way to Ilwaco we saw a *Western
Scrub Jay* in Seaside, a species we first saw on the Peninsula in 2007 and
now seems to be resident there. In Ilwaco itself we saw an *Olive-sided
Flycatcher* from the hospital parking lot, one of several sightings of this
species on our trip.

The Discovery Trail runs by *Beard's Hollow*, just north of the *North Head
Lighthouse*. Here there is mature conifer forest with a fresh-water marsh at
the bottom of the hollow hear the beach. Here we saw our first *Swainson's
Thrushes* this year, also *Downy Woodpecker*, *Western Wood-Pewee*, *Steller's
Jay*, *Winter Wren*, *Bewick's Wren*, *Chestnut-backed Chickadee*,
*Red-breasted
Nuthatch*, *Golden-crowned Kinglet*, *Orange-crowned, Black-throated Gray,
and Wilson's Warblers*, and from the marsh below we heard *Common
Yellowthroat*. *Song Sparrow*, *Marsh Wren*, and a *Canada Goose* head and
neck rose from behind some marsh grass.

We also took Barb's mother birding up toward the north end of the Peninsula.
In Nahcotta we stopped for views of *Belted Kingfisher*, *Tree *and* Cliff
Swallows*, *Killdeer*, *Brewer's Blackbird*, *Glaucous-winged Gull*, *Great
Blue Heron*, and scores of *Brant* out on Willapa Bay. At Leadbetter Point,
even though the shorebird migration is pretty-well over, we found six
*Semi-palmated
Plover* and six *Western Sandpipers* foraging near the water-line. The
mosquitoes were so thick we couldn't bird in the woods, normally a great
hang-out for *Yellow-rumped Warblers *and* Rufous Hummingbirds.*
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Good birding!

Paul Webster
Seattle
paul.websterATcomcast.net

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