Hi Tweeters,

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Today Barb McDowell and I birded along the coast,?starting at Bottle Beach and ending at Cape Disappointment.? We didn't come across anything unexpected, but the numbers of birds of a few of the species were very impressive.?? Here are the highlights:

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Bottle Beach:? We arrived this morning about an hour before high tide.? I didn't attempt to count them, but there were probably between 300-400 MARBLED GOTWITS.? Also present were a scattering of WHIMBRELS, SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS, and BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS.? There was a very small flock of DUNLIN and 1 WESTERN SANDPIPER.? We saw 1 PEREGRINE FALCON on the walk in.

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Midway Beach:? We crossed the watery divide that separates the beach area from the now closed road.? The good news is that a lot more habitat has been set aside for the resident Snowy Plovers.? The bad news for birders is that there is no access to the area where the plovers are likely to be seen until September 1, but it's worth it if it keeps away the vehicles and unleashed dogs from their breeding area.? Anyway, we were lucky enough to see 1 SNOWY PLOVER near the pond just to the south of the off-limits area.? Other species seen include lots of HEERMANN'S and CALIFORNIA GULLS, BROWN PELICANS, CASPIAN TERNS,?1 PEREGRINE FALCON, AND 1 N. HARRIER.

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Graveyard Spit in Tokeland:? 3 LONG-BILLED CURLEWS, more WHIMBRELS, BROWN PELICANS, and CASPIAN TERNS.

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Tokeland Marina:? 12 WILLETS, a large flock of MARBLED GODWITS, a small number of WHIMBRELS, and a small mixed flock of LEAST AND WESTERN SANDPIPERS.

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Cape Disappointment SP:? The view from the lighthouse yielded one of the most impressive bird spectacles that I have ever seen (with the help of a scope).? There were thousands and thousands of SOOTY SHEARWATERS sitting on the water as well as flying about.? I couldn't even begin to estimate their numbers, but they seemed to stretch on for miles.? Mixed in were huge rafts of COMMON MURRES.? There were also large numbers of BROWN PELICANS, CASPIAN TERNS, AND GULLS.? Sometimes several hundred birds in mixed flocks would take to the air and intensively fish a fairly small patch of water.? I also spotted a Jeager flying past, but I don't trust my ID skills enough to be certain if it was a Pomerine or a Parasitic Jeager.? On the nearby cliffs, we were able to see nesting BRANDT'S CORMORANTS.? Two nests had 3 large chicks each, 1 with a parent present that was regurgitating food to them.? We could also see a distant colony of sea lions (Stellar's?) on some of the rocks beyond the distant jetty.

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Good birding,

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Lonnie Somer

Olympia

wheelermombi at comcast.net