I was there as well, thoroughly enjoying the spectacle of tens of thousands
of birds. I've only recently started chasing shorebirds and there is so much
I've never seen before. The Sanderlings, that I'm used to seeing in the
ghostly white and gray plumage, are now kind of ugly. The Rock Sandpipers,
kind of the same way, looking a bit like breeding plumage Dunlin, not the
way I've seen them in winter. My eyes popped when a Red-necked Phalarope
wandered in among the Godwits I was watching. I don't know that I've seen a
Phalarope walking around before, like it actually knows how to do something
other than paddle.



I went out to very near the end of the jetty at Point Brown. There were a
couple of Harlequin Ducks out there, along with the Black Oystercatchers,
Pelagic Cormorant and gulls. I saw River Otter, Harbor Seal and California
Sea Lion while I was out there. Oh, and at least two Wandering Tattlers. The
flights of Pacific Loons was unlike anything I've seen before as well. Some
of my photos can be seen here:



http://www.flickr.com/photos/29002564 at N08/



Kelly McAllister

Olympia



From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of bill
shelmerdine
Sent: Saturday, April 27, 2013 7:16 AM
To: tweeters; dianna moore
Subject: [Tweeters] Grays Harbor County birding (SoSa) and shorebird
festival



Tweeters,
Had a good day in Grays Harbor County and at the Shorebird Festival
yesterday (4/26). Birded from Elma, passing through Wenzel Slough and Brady
Loop Roads early; then Phil Kelly and I led a Shorebird Festival Field Trip
to Ocean Shores. I recorded 104 species including birds en-route to the
outer coast. Best birds included a SOLITARY SANDPIPER in the pond along
Highway 8, just east of Elma (0630); large numbers of Red-necked Phalerope
on the outer coast,many in stunning alternate plumage; and 2 alternate
plumage ROCK SANDPIPERS at the Point Brown Jetty. The jetty area was
amazing and I'm sure we missed plenty there as the numbers of birds moving
through was spectacular. There was a major movement of Cackling Geese and
Pacific Loons pushing north, and large flocks of Boneparte's Gulls in teh
channel between the jetties. We bumped into Jim Danzenbaker, who had been
scanning from the jetty long before we got there; he noted 3 Black
Oystercatcher (that flew south across the channel before we arrived),
Marbled Murrelets, and several other species that we did not encounter. He
also alerted us to the face that the Rock Sandpipers were around. Also
there are large numbers of Red-necked Phalarope along the coast now, most in
very fine plumage. A complete species list and numbers have been entered
into ebird. It is a good time to be on the outer coast right now.

Good luck and good birding.
Bill Shelmerdine, Olympia
georn1 at hotmail.com