Tweets - the great weather, and good reports by others, led me down to
Cowlitz and Wahkiakum counties yesterday, November 3.

I usually hate birding Cowlitz county, as there's often not much to see.
But I had a fabulous morning there yesterday. Wahkiakum was also pretty
good, though I found fewer of my target species.

Highlights:

At Woodland Bottoms, I initially could not find the BLACK PHOEBE at dawn,
but found it at about 10:00 a.m. on my way back. It was working both the
old and new structures at 1321 Dike Rd., and responded well to my iPod.
Over the slough on the other side of the road was a late-lingering OSPREY.

I had four SNOW GEESE fly by, and had a flock of about ten on a field near
the west end of Caples Rd. There were large numbers of Canada Goose,
Cackling Goose, Greater White-fronted Goose, and Sandhill Crane.

In the Columbia, near the end of Whalen Rd, there was a large flock of
scaup, buffleheads, and Western Grebe that also contained a few SURF SCOTER
and a couple of COMMON LOONS. Further south, I had two Common Mergansers,
and south of them, all by itself, a female RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. Amongst
a whole lot of gulls on a sand bar was a single DUNLIN.

Looking across the mouth of the Lewis River into Clark County, I could see
three more COMMON LOONS. Five SWANS flew silently from Cowlitz to Clark,
probably Tundras.

Near the mouth of the Kalama River, off Sportsman Rd (off Kalama River Rd),
there was a large group of gulls with at least one THAYER'S GULL. I also
had a Spotted Sandpiper there.

At the Longview STP, there was one BONAPARTE'S GULL and three or more RUDDY
DUCK.

In Wahkiakum County, Julia Butler Hansen NWR was pretty quiet in the hot
afternoon sun (72 degrees), but I did find a male REDHEAD in one of the
water-filled scrapes towards the west end of the refuge.

At the Cathlamet STP, there were 3 BONAPARTE'S GULLS.

On Puget Island, at an active dairy farm on N. Welcome Slough Rd., there was
a single TUNDRA SWAN.

It was a great day.

== Michael Hobbs
== Kirkland, WA
== http://www.marymoor.org/birding.htm
== http://www.marymoor.org/BirdBlog.htm
== birdmarymoor at frontier.com