Subject: [Tweeters] Great Birds on the Coast Continued
Date: Aug 26 06:22:40 2012
From: Blair Bernson - blair at washingtonadvisorygroup.com


First an add on for the Game Range at OShores for
Friday and another for the HUGO at Bottle Beach.
At the Game Range, I also had both Wilson's and
Red Necked Phalaropes. I had to check photos to
confirm the Wilson's but clearly had two with
three or 4 times as many Red Necked. And the HUGO
was a life bird in addition to being aState a nd
Year bird. I thought I had an old record from the
East Coast or Texas but checking records found
that my memory was wrong (happens more and more
sad to say) and this was the first!!!

Saturday early I was off to the docks at Westport
for a Pelagic Trip on the Monte Carlo with
Westport Seabirds. Good weather but definitely
rolling swells as we headed out. I will wait for
the official report for the trip but the short
hand unofficial version is that while there were
definitely some good birds and most of the usual
suspects, there was nothing super-extraordinary.
We only found a single fishing boat with birds in
tow and their diversity was less than hoped for.
I believe there may have been a single Flesh
Footed Shearwater in with the MANY Pink Footed,
but at most I saw a distant fleeting bird,
certainly not sufficient for me to count. Others
had better looks and the official report will tell
the story.

As reported in Chapter I, returning to the dock we
slowly went by a huge number of Godwits on the
rocks across from the Coast Guard Station. Cries
of joy went out as a very light bird was
identified as a Bar Tailed Godwit, but when it
flew and the tail was definitely not barred, lists
were reduced by one as it was concluded to be a
very light colored Marbled. The two highlights of
the trip for me were seeing at least 10 large
Sunfish and spending time with some great birders
(including the trip leaders) on board.

When the boat docked, I very impolitely raced off
to head to OShores and one more try for the Buff
Breasted which had been seen again the previous
afternoon. Fortunately avoiding a speeding ticket
I arrived at Oyehut around 4:30 and was encouraged
when I saw a group of birders with scopes trained
on something far off across the ponds on the beach
side. When I finally got to them (the group from
Portland Audubon) they reported they had seen the
Buff Breasted before it flew of when a Peregrine
came by and then they found it again just as I was
setting up the scope. A quick look and I had the
bird before it flew off. Fortunately it returned
and could be seen again unfortunately into the
sun. A few minutes Ryan Shaw arrived (he had been
at Rainier with the ptarmigan earlier that day -
always intrepid) and we changed position and found
the bird several times with the sun behind us
allowing for good (mine) and great (his I am sure)
photos. The group from Portland headed out and I
was pleased to hear that they too had found a
Baird's and that they had seen 4 Stilt
Sandpipers. Ryan and I watched the BBSP fly in
and out and then headed back towards the entrance
where indeed we found at least 4 and possibly 5
Stilt Sandpipers which were again very photogenic.

Exhausted, I headed home and Ryan went off to camp
with another day of shorebirding ahead of him -
hopefully adding the HUGO at Bottle Beach.

I have not fully parsed all of my notes and
sightings and photos from Friday and Saturday, but
believe I had a total of 25 Shorebirds for the two
days, bringing the Washington total for the year
to 40!! Now I even further regret missing that
Ruff at Bottle Beach earlier.

And today I rest...unless something wonderful
shows up in the mud at Montlake Fill.

--
Blair Bernson
Sea