Sierra and I had to settle for period listening of the hawks in between birding stops in Neah Bay today. Though the wind was steady throughout the day, the rain was much less than forecasted and it was a fairly pleasant day at Neah Bay.

Besides some continuing birds like the Orchard Oriole and Pine Grosbeaks, we had a couple of notables. They were a group of 6 Barn Swallows flying around the inner harbor-seems like a big influx of the species from other reports. During a sea watch behind the forestry greenhouses we had a Fork-tailed Storm-petrel flying west offshore. Wonder if it's occurrence is tied to the strong winds last night. There was also a Black-legged Kittiwake headed west. Species numbers suffered due to the wind, but still a good day.

Scott Downes
Downess at charter.net
Yakima Wa