I just got back from a really great day at the
Coast. Birded Bottle Beach (twice), Westport
(twice) Grayland and Midway Beaches and Tokeland.
Although there were some surprisingly low numbers
(or absent) there were also some great birds and
large numbers of several species.

Bottle Beach around 8:00 a.m. Very low tide and
very few birds. Scattering of Caspian Terns, 5
Whimbrel and some Western Sandpipers were the
extent of shore/water birds.

Westport around 9:30 a.m. Hundreds (2?, 3?)of
Brown Pelicans, Pigeon Guillemot, DC Cormorants,
hundreds of Heerman's Gulls plus California,
HerringXGlaucous Winged (I believe), two groups of
peeps flying but not identified. A Killdeer at
Coast Guard station but no large waders.

Driving the beach around Grayland down to Midway
and back (2+ hours). Literally many hundred
Sanderling and Semipalmated Plovers. 50
Whimbrel. 100+ Western Sandpipers. 50+ Caspian
Terns, 200+ Heerman Gulls. 200+ California Gulls,
a single adult Western Gull and many gulls of the
Glaucous Winged, Herring etc type that I did not
work through to ID. No Mew Gulls, no Ring Bills.
The highlight was an extraordinary moment near the
lower end of Midway. I was scoping a very large
(hundreds) mixed group of Sanderling, Semipalmated
Plovers and Western (no more than 20) and one
"different" shorebird, when all of a sudden all
hell broke loose. A dark fast flying bird swooped
the flock and almost all of them took off. I had
been concentrating on the "different" one which
was somewhat larger than the Westerns and
seemingly a little larger than the Sanderlings and
rounder than them, all gray on back. When the
birds flew the rump on this "larger" bird was
distinctly white. I am not very familiar with
White Rumped Sandpipers but this seemed to cinch
this I.D. I turned attention to the dark bird
that had caused the to-do and figured it for a
Peregrine, but when it wheeled and chased a gull
back over the area again, it flew almost right
overhead (this was on the beach near the surf
line) and it was clearly a Jaeger with the two
long central tail feathers (but not Long Tailed
"long"). I have never seen a Jaeger except on a
pelagic trip so this was a thrill. Later coming
back up the beach I met Cyndie Sundstrom with the
DFW. This is her territory and she has spent 15
years there and had incredible knowledge and info
about the birds and especially the Snowy Plovers
which she monitors there. It was really great to
talk to her. Interestingly she had also seen the
Parasitic Jaeger episode and had identified the
bird. She said there is a resident Peregrine that
was her first guess but she too clearly saw the
Jaeger in detail.

My next stop was Tokeland which I hit around 1:00
P.M. with the tide coming in fast. Aside from a
lot of gulls on the west side of the peninsula, I
did not see many birds and was disappointed. That
changed rapidly when I got to the Point and the
Willapa Bay side. There is an island (I believe)
about 100 yds off the point and with the tide ever
higher, this is where the birds concentrated. At
first I noticed a flock of what I thought were
godwits flying around the southern end of the
"island" and they landed as I got out of the car,
but I could not tell where (front or back side)
and also there was no "shore", just rocks so at
first I could not see anything. Then as I got out
the scope I could see that there were dozens of
waders (plus a small number of peeps and also 6
Blue Herons and 10 Turkey Vultures) among the
rocks. Almost immediately a group of six lighter
colored birds stood out. They were hunkered down,
but their whitish bellies/breasts and grayish
backs were apparent. At first I thought
"Yellowlegs" but the legs were gray also and when
finally two moved their wings it was apparent that
they were Willets, one of my favorite birds. They
were mixed in with a large number of Whimbrel that
seemed to multiply as I watched them. I counted
over 80 and there well may have been 100+
especially since I could not see the other side of
the "island". I had expected Godwits and was
surprised to see so many Whimbrel (wait for
later...). Further up the island however I
started noticing a few Marbled Godwits mixed in
with the Whimbrels and then found a larger group
of perhaps 35-50 with another "Willet" looking
smaller and paler bird in the center but with a
clearly "Godwit" bill. I was able to get pretty
good views in the scope and when it moved its
wings, no tell tale Willet pattern which confirmed
to me that it was a Bar Tailed Godwit, a bird I
was hoping to see at Westport where one was
reported at the Coast Guard station recently (like
last year). So Tokeland definitely came through
with the waders again!!

I then returned to Westport and tried the Coast
Guard station and spit around 3:00. By then the
tide was quite high and there were almost no
shorebirds around. Hundreds of Brown Pelicans (I
counted more than 200 on the rocks and I think
there were probably twice that many). Lots of
Heerman's and other gulls and cormorants but no
shorebirds except some small groups of peeps that
flew by. I did not check out the jetty for
rockpipers.

The last stop was Bottle Beach again around 3:30
with very high tide. When I got to the blind I
saw NOTHING in the water except a few immature
gulls and was going to give up as there was not
much "Shore" as I scanned to the northeast (right
side of blind looking at water). But then I saw
some movement perhaps 150 yards away to the left
of the blind on the beach near the large tires.
Turns out the beach was full of shorebirds. Only
a handful of peeps, but well more than a hundred
each of Black Bellied Plovers in every plumage
imaginable, Red Knots (most resting) and again
Whimbrels. There were NO dowitchers and NO
Godwits...but one of the plovers was distinctly
"golden" with a dark cap and blackish extending
back under the tail. I am sure it was a Golden
Plover and believe it was a Pacific but do not
know enough (nor saw enough) to be able to rule
out American.

I have never seen so many Whimbrels and at the
same time I expected more Godwits. The White
Rumped, Golden Plover and Bar Tailed Godwit were
super birds for me, but seeing the Jaeger on shore
flying so fast and then talking with Cyndie was
the highlight of the day...a great day.

--
Blair Bernson
Seattle