Hi Tweets,

Took the kayaks out for one last summer spin of the South Fork of the Stillaguamish River off of Warm Beach in Port Susan and the birds & weather were glorious.

We went out at high tide to inspect the half submerged trees that the birds use as a roost on the south exit of the Stillaguamish. This is just south of the Nature Conservancy property. There were good numbers of shorebirds working the area.

85 Black-bellied Plovers - saw 6 that still had the majority of their breeding plumage
PACIFIC GOLDEN-PLOVER - juvenile with brown back and nice golden spangles. Eye line was very buffy. Kayak was a bit unsteady to count parts of primaries projecting. Traveling with BBPlovers
15 Greater Yellow
RED KNOT - feeding with Greater Yellowlegs on the mudflat/sand interface at the high Low tide.
210 Western Sandpipers : About 80% were juveniles
6 Least Sandpipers

12 Caspian Terns with only two immature heard. This is definitely a smaller number than in years past.

The resident Osprey family that was there the week before had left the premises.

15 TURKEY VULTURE - a nice kettle working the flats. A fair number perched on the driftwood.

1000s of HUMPBACK SALMON - this is the first time I have seen giant roiling patches of water that were the humpies moving up into the estuary with the setting sun. It was fascinating to watch them veer around the mouth of the estuary in what appeared to be behavior looking for the main stem of the river. At least the ones nearest the shore seemed to keep changing direction unlike the groups further out in the bay.

It was a great day to be out!

Marcus Roening
Tacoma WA
marcus.d.roening at GSK.com
C: 253-988-8313