hi tweeters- spurred on by gregg thompson's pics of RED phalaropes at ocean shores, we(mike + i) proceeded there despite poor weather reports---saturday, there were very few birds at o. shores save a great feeding frenzy by the pilings at damon point many brown pelicans,3 loon spp. + lots of gulls also KILLDEER + BLACK BELLIED PLOVER on the campgroun grass--on we went to the westport area--bottle beach had 1 SNIPE but the tide was out so poor views of BBPL + SMALLER sand pipers. along midway beach we saw 2 SNOWY PLOVERS + hundreds of SANDERLINGS + DUNLINS.at tokeland marina , we saw 1oo's of MARBLED GODWITS + ~ a dozen WILLETS---couldn't id other godwits----OCT.31 at dawn + high tide ,we returned to bottle beach--big flock of BLACKBELLIED PLOVERS , DUNLINS, SANDERLINGS + a few WESTERN SANDPIPERS + 3 RED KNOTS...1 SNIPE in the marsh, also 2 elk.--in westport at the south end of the marina was another lg. roost of MARBLED GODWITS--in the new dug out area behind the north beach were lots of LEAST SANDPIPERS + A FEW KILLDEER. at the state park were 3 RED PHALAROPES in the small pond s. of the parking lot---out by the jetty were more SANDERLINGS . at the foot of the jetty were
` a dozen BLACK TURNSTONES W/ 3 ROCK SANDPIPERS.. back to tokeland just s/w of the new gas staion were many shorebirds incl.4 GREATER YELLOW LEGS, 4 LONG BILLED CURLEWS--BB PLOVERS + DUNLINS + PEEPS--actually the most shorebirds i've ever seen there--marina yielded 1 BLACK BELLIED PLOVER!-all GODWITS were gone,probably feeding as the tide was out---back at midway south of the ponds were12 SNOWY PLOVERS--in the sand by strands of kelp + other woody pieces--there were many dead seabirds augered into the sand--at least 1 was a sooty shearwater--the total was 16 spp of shorebirds.but as usual tide levels really affect what is seen---sunday was sunny despite forecast for rain--we felt very lucky on this count + also i realized today that in hal opperman's A BIRDER'S GUIDE TO WASHINGTON--there are 41 shorebirds listed in the bar graphs---RED PHALAROPE is the last on the list + became the last on my now complete list-so yahoo--i didn't mention other birds b/c of focus but there was a nice immature COOPER'S HAWK waiting beside the porta potty at tokeland marina. it was awonderful 2 days,lots of shorebirds + they have lots of infective energy along the beach!---cheers , maxine reid baconmf at mail.com ----tulalip , wa