Greetings all,
I went out to the Westport area with Tracey Norris and Annie Meyer to attempt to relocate the adult Kumlien's Iceland Gull found yesterday by Bill Tweit, Whittier Johnson, and Scott Mills. There were very few gulls around Westport when we first arrived at 8:30. We figured we would return later since the bird was seen late in the day during the CBC yesterday.
Highlights for the day were:21 Snowy Plovers at Midway Beach on the outer beach near the surf line among a flock of Semipalmated Plovers and Sanderling.8 Western Bluebirds in the Cranberry Bogs along Smith Anderson Road accessed from Hwy 105.1 Long-tailed Duck and 1 Harlequin Duck at the Westport Jetty and a Red-necked Grebe in the marina at Westport.
We ventured back to Westport and birded along the boat basin where Bill and company had the Iceland yesterday. There were a lot of gulls along the breakwater of the marina opposite the Coast Guard Station but nothing looked very Icelandish. Highlight was an interesting 2nd cycle bird that we believe was a Glaucous hybrid of sorts.Tokeland was quiet with the tide being out and the Godwit flock being quite distant.
So my 2011 Washington State Year List ends at 351 species that are currently on the Washington checklist.
I have placed a few Snowy Plover photos on my flickr site.
www.flickr.com/photos/shyalbatross
Happy New Year!
Ryan ShawTacomartshaw80 at hotmail.com