Hi Tweets,

Barbara and I drove from Seattle to Ilwaco Sunday Nov 27, and spent a day
and a half birding on the Long Beach Peninsula. We had very wet weather for
the drive on Sunday, but Monday was a beautiful, sunny, windless day on the
coast. On Tuesday the wind blew fitfully all morning as clouds gathered;
the rain started again about mid-afternoon. Temps for the entire trip were
in the mid to upper 40s. Altogether we found 73 species for the trip.

On the way down we drove the Brady Loop Road in poor weather, finding
nothing unusual: Glaucous-winged, Mew and Ring-billed Gulls, shorebirds and
a few ducks, with starlings and blackbirds hunkered down near the
farmhouses, and a few soaked raptors. Shorebirds included a half dozen
Least Sandpipers, 50 Dunlin and a a dozen Black-bellied Plovers. We saw the
first of four AMERICAN KESTRELS for the trip here, as well as knock-out
views of a NORTHERN HARRIER as it foraged a few feet off the road near our
car, then turned and came back past us again. 2011 is supposed to have had
the best season for breeding ducks in 50 years, but that wasn't evident on
this trip, as we found a decent variety but sparse numbers of ducks in both
Grays Harbor and Pacific County.

We stopped about three miles west of South Bend on US 101 to look at a
large group of birds in the fields near Carruthers Slough: lots of CANADA
and CACKLING GEESE watched by 8 BALD EAGLES, another Kestrel, plus AMERICAN
COOT, MALLARDS, BUFFLEHEAD, GLAUCOUS-WINGED and WESTERN GULLS. COMMON
MERGANSERS swam in the deeper water of the nearby river.

Monday morning we walked around Ilwaco in clear, chilly weather, finding
starlings, ROCK PIGEON, EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE, STELLER'S and WESTERN
SCRUB-JAYS, NORTHERN FLICKER, both chickadees, and ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD. At
the harbor we saw DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT, COMMON LOON, WESTERN GREBE,
GREATER SCAUP, and BUFFLEHEAD. About two dozen geese stood on the shore
outside the marina, and at the red building that houses a fish processing
company a single HERRING GULL joined the GLAUCOUS-WINGED and WESTERNs.

The Chinook Valley Road was busy, as traffic to and from the farms and gun
club kept most of the birds down, but we found another Kestrel, several
RED-TAILED HAWKS, SONG and FOX SPARROWS, SPOTTED TOWHEE, MARSH and BEWICK'S
WRENS, and a NORTHERN PINTAIL flew by not far from the gun club. At the
turn into Chinook the creek widened, giving space for PIED-BILLED GREBES.
In the Columbia at Chinook we found HORNED GREBE, AMERICAN WIGEON, SURF
SCOTER, and RED-NECKED GREBE.

At Cape Disappointment there were few birds, but on the beach near the
North Jetty was a flock of 500 SANDERLINGs that included a few DUNLIN and
WESTERN SANDPIPERS. Oneil Lake had a half-dozen RING-NECKED DUCKS, and we
heard a BELTED KINGFISHER rattle from the opposite shore. In the trees near
the lake we found BUSHTIT, VARIED THRUSH, CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEE,
GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET, and atop a snag we finally spotted my nemesis bird
for Pacific County: a HAIRY WOODPECKER! In MacKenzie Lagoon the only tenant
was a single RED-THROATED LOON.

Tuesday we drove to Nahcotta on the Willipa Bay side of the peninsula,
about 12 miles north of Ilwaco. At the harbor we witnessed a five-minute
drama when a PEREGRINE FALCON drove a BELTED KINGFISHER from its perch into
the water. The kingfisher splashed about and dove several times as the
peregrine repeatedly dove on it. Several times the kingfisher took off from
the water but the peregrine always drove it down again. We hoped the
kingfisher would get away, but after several minutes it was too exhausted
to resist as the peregrine snatched it from the water by one wing, took it
to a nearby post and dispatched the poor kingfisher by biting into the back
of its neck.

We didn't stay to watch the peregrine's dinner but instead drove north to
Leadbetter Point State Park. We wanted to see Hines Marsh, which we hadn't
even heard of until Martha Jordan posted a Tweeters report on November 13.
It's a half-mile walk from Stackpole Rd on a good gravel road into the
marsh, with private property to the south and the state park lands to the
north of the road. The salal, Oregon grape, and other shrubs grew up
shoulder-high, we heard NORTHERN FLICKER, PACIFIC WREN, both Kinglets, and
VARIED THRUSH as we walked into the heart of the peninsula. At this time of
year the marsh is a vast shallow lake punctuated by small islets of
shrubbery. Martha had seen swans on the lake, and Barbara spotted them
half-hidden by vegetation. We got good scope views of two TRUMPETER SWANS,
there were at least two others, one in darker juvenile plumage, but the
birds were too obscured for us to identify them. Nearby we spotted three
HOODED MERGANSERS and a scattering of RING-NECKED DUCKS. A MERLIN perched
nearby on a stick just above the water, waiting for smaller prey. As we
turned back we heard a VIRGINIA RAIL call near us. Then a car went past
with loud music blaring from its radio. Right afterward the rail called
again, louder. We wondered if it liked the music. Aside from the occasional
car, the area is very quiet, we heard only the sounds of running water and
the wildlife. Thanks to Martha for telling us about this area!

On the way home we stopped again at Carruthers Slough to see a flock of 50
SNOW GEESE.

Good birding!

Paul Webster
Seattle
paul.webster AT comcast.net
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