Hi Tweeters,

Ruth Sullivan and I led a group of 10 Black Hills Auduboners to the coast today. We lucked out with the weather, which was mostly calm and clear and much cooler than further inland. We ended the day with just under 70 species (including 16 species of shorebirds), including some uncommon birds and some very high counts in a few instances. Here's the highlights:

John Day Wildlife Area: PECTORAL SANDPIPER, GREATER YELLOWLEGS, SPOTTED SANDPIPER, KILLDEER, MARSH WREN, SAVANNAH SPARROW, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, A. GOLDFINCH, N. HARRIER, and a herd of 24 elk.

Bottle Beach: We arrived a couple of hours before high tide and stayed for perhaps and hour and a half: At least 10 RED KNOTS, 2 RUDDY TURNSTONES, SHORT- and LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS, MARBLED GODWIT, WESTERN SANDPIPER, DUNLIN (very few), BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER, BROWN PELICAN, N. SHOVELER, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, large flocks of N. PINTAIL flying by, PECTORAL SANDPIPER, BALD EAGLE, DOWNY WOODPECKER, CEDAR WAXWING.

Westport Coast Guard Station (Float 21): There was a large flock of MARBLED GODWITS on the jetty, but the direction of the birds relative to us and the sun made scoping a bit challenging. We eventually got a clear look at 1 BAR-TAILED GODWIT and we think that we saw a second individual, but it kept its head tucked in most of the time and we couldn't be certain, WHIMBREL, LOTS OF HEERMANN'S GULLS.

Other end of the marina by the observation deck: All 3 species of CORMORANTS, COMMON MURRE, COMMON LOON

Midway Beach: The water has finally dried up enough to allow one to walk to the beach without getting wet. Also, the areas that had been closed off for the breeding Snowy Plovers is now accessible (as of Sept. 1). We walked north (to the right) through the vegetation zone and then returned in a loop via the beach. Much of the fresh water pools were gone in this direction, but some remained at the far end of its usual extent, a location where we've often found some nice shorebird species over the years. Perhaps the most amazing find of the day was a very large flock of PECTORAL SANDPIPERS at this location. I personally counted 26, but after most of us had moved on, Jim Pruske stayed behind to take photos. He told me that at one point, he saw 35 of them. This was the largest flock of this species that any of us had ever seen. Mixed in with them were mostly LEAST SANDPIPERS with some WESTERN SANDPIPERS. A. PIPITS were fairly common throughout the vegetation in this region. By the water line on the beach, we spotted a young PEREGRINE FALCON snacking on a tasty Green-winged Teal. While we were watching this, a shorebird flew in and landed a few hundred feet from the falcon near the water's edge. We scoped it and realized that it was a young RUFF. It hung out for quite some time before flying off to the south. In the distance, a large flock (Ruth estimated that it consisted of at least 250 birds) of SANDERLINGS flew in and began to feed by the surf. Good numbers of SOOTY SHEARWATERS were flying south along the coast, not in the enormous numbers that I have sometimes seen here, but I did count 1 or 2 birds going by every second. The Caspian Terns were all gone (we did not see any all day), but a small number of CALIFORNIA GULLS were still present.

Tokeland, Graveyard Spit: Among the gulls and pelicans, we counted 21 LONG-BILLED CURLEWS (the most that I have ever seen at one time) and a couple of WHIMBRELS.

Tokeland Marina: 1 RED-NECKED GREBE in breeding plumage (my favorite bird of the day), 6 WILLETS, lots of MARBLED GODWITS, 1 PURPLE MARTIN, RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS, a large flock of GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE (scoped across the bay), and at least 8 COMMON LOONS.

Our group of birders were all wonderful and enthusiastic, which always adds to the enjoyment of the day.

Good birding,

Lonnie Somer
Olympia
wheelermombi at comcast.net