Hi Tweets



Seattle Audubon took a birdathon trip to Grays Harbor County yesterday. We
got started really early with overcast and temp. about 40F. As we headed
south on I-5 we ran into some light rain, and ran out from under it with
partially clear skies near Tacoma. A quick stop in W. Olympia gave us
GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL, AMERICAN CROW, ROCK PIGEON, HOUSE SPARROW,
WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW, VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW and SPOTTED TOWHEE. Because we
wanted to get to Bottle Beach early we pushed on along SR8 with broken skies
and a brief period at 37F, and then warming back up to 43F. Along the way we
saw RED-TAILED HAWK, AMERICAN CROW, EUROPEAN STARLING, STELLER'S JAY, and
then on the way home later in the day TREE SWALLOW.



By the time we got to Aberdeen we had clear skies, sun and 45F. We arrived
at Bottle Beach at about 8:15 a.m. and walked out to the beach. Along the
walk we saw SAVANNAH SPARROW, CANADA GOOSE, BALD EAGLE, SONG SPARROW,
AMERICAN CROW, COMMON RAVEN, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD,
MARSH WREN (heard), EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE, RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD, MALLARD. Out
at the beach the tide was still quite a ways out (what we had aimed for)
with good numbers of shorebirds scattered along the shore, wonderful sunny
conditions, temp. about 50F and NO wind. We had a great two hours with good
numbers of shorebirds moving back and forth along the shore and giving us
some really great views. We saw: GLAUCOUS-WINGED and RING-BILLED GULLs,
CASPIAN TERN, BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER (a couple of hundred) beautiful plumage,
SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER (a banded bird with yellow over red on the left leg),
LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER (probably 250-300 total dowitchers), RED-KNOTS in
great plumage (at least 30), DUNLIN (several hundred), WESTERN SANDPIPERs
(probably a couple of hundred), WESTERN GULL, THAYER'S GULL, SEMI-PALMATED
PLOVER, a single AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER (that obligingly stood still and
turned around giving excellent views), LEAST SANDPIPER, about 150 BRANT flew
in and landed, COMMON LOON offshore, a HERRING GULL. We were surprised that
a RED-NECKED PHALAROPE flew in and posed briefly (gorgeous colors), at least
8 RUDDY TURNSTONEs. By the time we left many of the shorebirds were quite
close and we felt that we had seen everything that was present. On the way
back out we had BEWICK'S WREN, EUROPEAN STARLING, VAUX'S SWIFT, GREAT BLUE
HERON, NORTHERN HARRIER (male), and a flyover AMERICAN GOLDFINCH. Did I say
we had a great time here at Bottle Beach?



We drove around to Westport and the marina had COMMON LOON, BRANDT'S
CORMORANT, GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL, PIGEON GUILLEMOT, but no godwits. At the
viewing platform at the north end of the marina we were amazed and pleased
to see about 30 FORK-TAILED STORM-PETRELS over the channel, a PEREGRINE
FALCON was perched in the alcove at the north end of one of the
condominiums, a RHINOCEROS AUKLET, PELAGIC CORMORANT, SURFSCOTER,
DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT and WESTERN GREBE were out in the bay. As we walked
out on the float we saw several more FORK-TAILED STORM-PETRELS as close as
20 feet (one sitting on the water).



A quick stop for lunch at Twin Harbors State Park let us see RED-TAILED
HAWK, BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER, AMERICAN ROBIN, TURKEY VULTURE, SONG
SPARROW, and AMERICAN CROW. On SR 105- heading back to Aberdeen we saw
AMERICAN CROW, STELLER'S JAY, NORTHERN HARRIER (female), and BARN SWALLOW. A
brief stop at Johns River Wildlife Area yielded SONG SPARROW, EUROPEAN
STARLING, AMERICAN ROBIN, and DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT.



We went straight out to the North Jetty in Ocean Shores (we now had about
40% cover of clouds and wind at about 15 mph). Good swell in the ocean and
large breakers on the rocks. No rocky shorebirds, but GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULLS,
DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT, PELAGIC CORMORANT, and three flyby RED-THROATED
LOONS. We met a group from the Grays Harbor Shorebird Festival who told us
they had good numbers early at Bill's Spit, so we went around to it. We
walked out to where the steps down to the beach were, and it was obvious why
the city had closed it. We stood up on the end of the path and scoped the
now extensive mud flats. Close by we had WESTERN SANDPIPERS, a single LEAST
SANDPIPER, DUNLIN, out at the edge of the water (about 150 yards away) were
several MARBLED GODWITS, a RED-BREASTED MERGANSER was just offshore, several
CASPIAN TERNS in the distance. Closer in now was a SEMI-PALMATED PLOVER, a
group of distant GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULLS, WESTERN GULL. A BALD EAGLE called
overhead.



We started a drive on the Ocean Shores beach and quickly picked up
SANDERLING and DUNLIN, and as quickly left the beach because of the hordes
of people and drivers. At Ocean City State Park we had AMERICAN ROBIN,
ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER (a nice bright male), PACIFIC WREN (three singing),
BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER, WILSON'S WARLBER (song only), and AMERICAN
CROW.



We made our final stop at the Hoquiam Sewer Ponds and saw MALLARD, AMERICAN
WIGEON (a single bird), GREATER and LESSER SCAUP, BARN SWALLOW, GADWALL,
NORTHERN SHOVELER, SPOTTED SANDPIPER, RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD, OSPREY,
KILLDEER, MARSH WREN, and another RED-NECKED PHALAROPE..



It was an excellent day, with superb looks at 15 species of shorebirds and
plenty of opportunity to really study them. We wound up the day with 75
species.



Brian H. Bell

Woodinville WA

mail to bell asoc a t iso media dot com