Subject: [Tweeters] Bottle Beach Bar-tailed Godwit,
Date: Aug 31 11:38:03 2017
From: Lonnie Somer - mombiwheeler at gmail.com


Hi Tweeters,

Yesterday (Wednesday), I birded along the coast with Scot Duncan. The
morning was foggy and drizzly, but it eventually cleared up. We went to a
number of locations; here a few highlights:

Bottle Beach: We arrived well before high tide and stayed for a couple of
hours. There was 1 BAR-TAILED GODWIT, 2 BLACK TURNSTONES, plus lots of
the expected peeps for this time of year (complete list will be posted to
eBird in a few hours). Initially, the Bar-tailed was the only godwit.
About an hour after our arrival, several hundred MARBLED GODWITS flew in.

Oyhut Wildlife Area (Game Range): Very few shorebirds, but all 3 species
of loons in the harbor. By far the most numerous was RED-THROATED LOONS, a
couple still in breeding plumage.

Pt. Brown Jetty: We arrived at the jetty around 1:40, after the fog had
cleared. We stayed for 2 hours; lot of birds, including 3 SURFBIRDS and 2
WANDERLING TATTLERS on the rocks, a flyby of 5 WHIMBRELS, an enormous raft
of COMMON MURRES, mostly swimming beyond the jetty, 1 MARBLED MURRELET, 1
RHINOCEROS AUKLET, a couple of PIGEON GULLEMOTS, and at least 200 SOOTY
SHEARWATERS.

Our final stop was at an overlook of Bills Spit. It was pretty quiet, but
as we were preparing to leave, a flock of 25 or so RED CROSSBILLS landed in
the nearby Douglas Firs and put on a great show.

Finally, I would like to thank Ryan Merrill for posting about his finding
the Swallow-tailed Gull this morning on a very timely basis. It's greatly
appreciated!

Lonnie Somer
Seattle
mombiwheeler at gmail.com