Charlie Wright and I ventured out to the Ocean Shores
vicinity looking for the Mountain Plover without success ? we covered a lot of
ground driving the beach first northbound entering the Beach Access near the
Best Western in Ocean Shores all the way to Copalis Beach and then South Bound
all the way to the Taurus Street Access on the Ocean Shores peninsula.?
The Peregrine Falcon show was very nice, we encountered 3 birds, 2 adults
including 1 munching on a Sanderling and 1 Immature Peale's.

?

After giving up on the Mountain Plover we birded a few spots
within Ocean Shores.? The Tonquin Avenue access of the Game Range was
loaded with ducks - mostly Gadwall, American Wigeon and N. Shovelers.?
Then we stopped at the Ocean Shores Interpretive Center. I wanted to try to
photograph a Palm Warbler that Charlie and I found here on Monday but we
couldn?t turn it up this visit.? A nice consolation were a few Type 10 Red
Crossbills vocalizing in the tops of the spruce trees.

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One of our last stops before heading back home was the
Hoquiam STP.? We almost didn?t stop since we didn?t see much of note on
Monday during a similar visit, but glad we did!? We drove out to the back
side of the ponds, where you can overlook the salt water, and found a nice
flock of Scaup.? I was still setting up my scope when Charlie called out
?Tufted Duck!?? It was a female with a nice little shaggy ?haircut? We had
a nice look at the bird, and the flock eventually came close enough to allow
for some record shots to be taken.? As we were driving back around Charlie
spotted a Long-tailed Duck within the pond, an immature male.

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Photos of the Tufted Duck can be found at:



www.flickr.com/photos/shyalbatross

?Cheers,
Ryan ShawTacoma