Subject: [Tweeters] NW Oregon (and SW Washington) Coast birds last weekend
Date: Feb 19 12:54:07 2013
From: Stephen Shunk - steve at paradisebirding.com


Hello, all,
Paradise Birding led our first official winter Oregon Coast tour this past
weekend, where we had unbelievably mild weather and outstanding birding.
Special thanks to Tim Shelmerdine for taking the group to Sauvie Island on
Wednesday and to Lee Cain for showing us around Clatsop and Pacific
Counties on Friday and Saturday.

Highlights of the trip are below, and the complete annotated trip list can
be found at this link on the Paradise Birding web
site<http://www.paradisebirding.com/lists/orcoast2013.pdf>.
For Tweeters folks, *Washington highlights are underlined*.
Email me directly with any questions.
Steve Shunk

PARADISE BIRDING OREGON COAST TOUR HIGHLIGHTS - Feb 13-17, 2013
We saw the sun every day this weekend, and I was even in short-sleeves for
part of the trip. For winter at the Oregon Coast, this is a big highlight!

The SNOWY OWLS stole the show, with 4 seen at the South Jetty at Fort
Stevens on Saturday afternoon (2 there on Friday). Other raptor highlights
included courtship grappling between 2 PEREGRINE FALCONS at the south jetty
and multiple PEREGRINES seen elsewhere; a ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK at Scappoose
Bottoms; RED-SHOULDERED HAWK repeatedly on Wireless Rd and another on *Chinook
Valley Road across the river in Washington*; and many BALD EAGLES.

Waterfowl highlights included a COMMON (Eurasian Green-winged) TEAL off
Wireless Rd; a flock of *5 BRANT seen from Chinook Harbor in Washington*;
SNOW GEESE and EURASIAN WIGEON at Sauvie Island; *3 CINNAMON TEAL on
Chinook Valley Rd in Washington*; and the awesome spectacle of 1000s of
CACKLING GEESE in the Young's/Lewis & Clark Rivers flood plain. We had
excellent looks at HARLEQUIN DUCKS at Haystack Rock in Cannon Beach, where
we also had difficult looks at BLACK SCOTERS. Two WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS were
off Smuggler's Cove at Oswald West Park, Tillamook County. We had only one
RED-BREASTED MERGANSER, a female seen on the north shore of Young's Bay.

Best Shorebirds of the trip were BLACK OYSTERCATCHERS at Haystack Rock, and
up-close SURFBIRDS and BLACK TURNSTONES at Seaside Cove. We also had dozens
of SURFBIRDS on the south jetty of Tillamook Bay, seen from Barview Jetty. *A
couple SPOTTED SANDPIPERS were on the rocks off Fort Columbia in Washington*,
and we found WILSON'S SNIPE at the Seaside mill ponds and on Wireless Rd.
Other waterbird highlights included at least 4 RED-NECKED GREBES between
the jetties at Barview Park; GREEN HERON at the Seaside mill ponds; a young
GLAUCOUS GULL among the Wireless Rd gull frenzy; and a few RED-THROATED
LOONS at scattered locations.

We also had a number of songbird highlights, including excellent scope
views of *"SITKA" RED CROSSBILL at Cape Disappointment*; 2 AMERICAN DIPPERS
along Short Sand Creek (Oswald West SP); WRENTITS at Battery Russell, Fort
Stevens SP; and the first 2 TREE SWALLOWS of the season over the Astoria
Airport mitigation wetlands.

We ended the trip with 114 species, and we're going back to do it again
tomorrow!
--
Stephen Shunk
Paradise Birding
P.O. Box 547
Sisters, OR 97759
www.paradisebirding.com
541-408-1753
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