Hello, tweets.

Probably ten people have already posted this, but I have to add my two sentiments.

Neil Zimmerman and 21 Master Birder aspirants and I spent the weekend on the outer coast, both south and north of Grays Harbor. On Sunday morning (5/1) we witnessed the largest loon migration I have ever seen. Thousands of loons, mostly Pacific but including lots of Red-throated and at least a few Common, flew by offshore (much of the time too far to distinguish Pacific from Red-throated). The rate was sometimes dozens per minute. Many were high in the air, especially later in the morning. We first saw them south of Westport at around 7 am, then later encountered the same movement at the Point Brown (Ocean Shores) jetty at 10 am. Essentially there was never a time when loons weren't passing by, sometimes in loose groups of a dozen or more. Most of them were well offshore (east wind predominated), but at one point a whole loose "flock" of them passed right over us on the Point Brown jetty, and mouths hung open in awe. Even though I know better than to do that when birds fly over, mine was one of them.

Along with the loons there were thousands of Sooty Shearwaters (also passing late Saturday afternoon) and hundreds of Surf Scoters, with much smaller numbers of White-winged Scoters and a few dabbling ducks. The flight diminished as the day wore on, or at least we couldn't see them from shore. Surprisingly few cormorants were heading south, most of them Pelagic, and it was disappointing to see no murres in the flights (one was in the harbor). I have been going out there in the spring for 40 years, and although I have seen many loon movements, I have never seen anything like what we saw yesterday. It reminded me of Richard Rowlett's reports from his sea watch in California. Perhaps the sudden improvement in the weather "released" a pent-up migration. Oh yes, some huge flocks of Cackling Geese (a couple of them seemed to fill the sky) and smaller flocks of Greater White-fronted and (Lesser) Canada Geese and Brants.

The shorebird concentrations on the outer beach north of Ocean Shores were probably also reported, but they were just as impressive as the loons, with thousands of Westerns and many hundreds of Dunlins, Semipalmated Plovers, and Marbled Godwits and smaller numbers of Short-billed Dowitchers and Sanderlings. It was very discouraging to see the constant disturbance of these birds by people, often on purpose, but the birds would immediately resume feeding after each disturbance, and I got the feeling that the feeding time to disturbance time ratio would be sufficient to send them on their way north.

We spotted nothing rare all day, but the spectacle was very much worth the price of admission.

I would like to add two comments in response to some of the recent postings I've seen on tweeters. First, please remember to type Semipalmated Plover instead of Semipalmated Sandpiper, so record compilers don't have to pursue what would be very unusual sightings. Second, I strongly question the presence of Long-billed Dowitchers in the dowitcher flocks out on the coast. I and others have tried hard to find evidence for their presence in spring, but I have never found one in these flocks. They are more vocal than Short-billed, thus easily detectable, and whenever I hear one in spring migration on the coast, it's usually flying overhead to land in some nearby freshwater habitat. They are also later migrants than Short-billed and shouldn't be in the big dowitcher flocks that are associated with Dunlins and Western Sandpipers in late April. Instead, much smaller numbers usually pass through in May.

Just the weather alone made last weekend one to remember I'll keep thinking of it as I look outside at the rain today.

Dennis
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Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net