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WOS 2003 Conference Schedule of Events All events held a the Chautauqua Lodge in Long Beach
Friday, September 19 The 15th Annual Conference of the Washington Ornithological Society will be held at the Chautauqua Lodge in Long Beach from Friday, September 19, through Sunday, September 21, 2003. Field trips, led by experienced birders, will be conducted Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The Conference will also feature interesting speakers addressing topics relevant to the Long Beach Peninsula and Willapa Bay area for both the Friday and Saturday night programs. The Chautauqua Lodge, in the town of Long Beach, is Conference Headquarters. Long Beach is located on Highway 103 on the Long Beach Peninsula, north of the town of Ilwaco, in southwest Washington. It is 175 miles southwest of Seattle, 120 miles northwest of Portland, OR, 70 miles west of Longview, and 440 miles southwest of Spokane. The Long Beach Peninsula is just north of the mouth of the Columbia River, and forms Willapa Bay. The Conference Committee hopes you enjoy your visit to the Long Beach Peninsula. We are offering some excellent field trips - space is limited, so register early! Be sure to indicate alternate choices for field trips and designate the menu items you prefer. REGISTRATION DEADLINE IS AUGUST 31 Registrations postmarked after August 22 will be assessed a $5 late fee. Registration begins August 4. Registration materials received as of August 4 will processed in random order. Materials received after August 4 will be processed on a first come, first served basis. Space on field trips is limited. Lodging is not included in Conference fees. Please refer to the information provided and make your own arrangements. Field Trips In order to optimize the birding experience for participants, there will be car-pooling for all field trips except a couple “on the way” to the conference or “on the way home.” WOS will reimburse field trip drivers who carry at least three people in addition to themselves at the current federal government mileage rate. Except for trips OF-1 and OF-2, all field trips will depart from the Chautauqua Lodge at 6:30 am. Field trip leaders will be announced on Tweeters on July 24th. On the
way: Tokeland to Long Beach
Tokeland,
at the mouth of Willapa Bay, makes a convenient stop en
route to Long Beach. Featured are long-legged waders. At
high tide, close studies of hundreds of shorebirds are
possible, including a sprinkling of greater yellowlegs, a
few willets and long-billed curlews, the odd bar-tailed and
hundreds of marbled godwits. A special effort will be made
for bar-tailed godwit. This is the best place outside Alaska
in the ABA checklist area for this species. Also on this
trip will be a short walk out to a nearby sandy beach where
scoping of the sand spit across an inlet and nearby beaches
will be made for brown pelican (spring through fall), and
more shorebirds and gulls. Huge flocks of sooty shearwaters
sometimes stream through the mouth of Willapa Bay here at
this time of year, too. Finally, a peek at Toke Point is on
tap, where the beach, rocks, and pilings might have
cormorants, willet, black turnstone, and gulls, including
Heermann’s and western. This is a “no car-pool” trip, and it
will begin in Tokeland at 6:30 a.m. (meeting details will be
supplied to those on the trip). An interesting replacement would include two walks in a mature forest environment. First, Teal Slough is a (338) acre recent addition to the Willapa NWR, located off SR 101 one mile north of the Willapa NWR Headquarters. There is a moderate uphill walk of about (1/3) mile to a trail head. Thetrail of less than a (1/2) mile enters a (60) acre parcel containing old growth trees – some estimated to be (900) years old with circumferences up to (35) feet. Birding in a mature forest environment, possible sightings might includeBand-tailed Pigeon, woodpeckers, chickadees, nuthatches, and Brown Creeper. Marbled Murrelet nest in the area, but may not be present in September. Migrant and forest passerines are possible. Second, Ellsworth Creek a (7000) acre watershed owned by The Nature Conservancy has a mix of deciduous and conifer trees (a remnant of thecoastal temperate rainforest) and a (350) acre estuarine wetland. Birding here will include walking logging roads through mixed forest,including some clearcuts. Both Teal Slough and Ellsworth Creek are adjacent to the Willapa NWR Headquarters, approximately (12) miles northof Long Beach off SR 101.
Short Leadbetter Point. This trip visits a number of birding sites along Leadbetter
Point, including the marina at Nahcotta, famous for its
oysters, for shorebirds such ruddy and black turnstones, and
Surfbirds plus an assortment of gulls. Migrant passerines
will be a feature of the nearby Oysterville Cemetery.
Northwards along the peninsula, Stackpole Road ends in the
impressive spruce forest at Leadbetter Point State Park.
Several walks on sandy trails lead into the Leadbetter Unit
of Willapa NWR. One goes westward, traversing an interesting
succession of plant communities from Sitka spruce, then
lodgepole pine to wax myrtle, each with its own assortment
of land birds. Finally, at the beach, shorebirds and gulls
will be the focus. Two specific areas
will be explored — the saltmarsh west of Grassy Island (for
American and Pacific golden-plovers, and pectoral and
sharp-tailed sandpipers), and the ocean beach and flats at
the outer point and northwestern shore (for snowy plover,
but staying out of the restricted nesting area of this
state-endangered species). Impressive shorebird roosts may
be encountered anywhere along the outer beach at high tide.
Ilwaco to Chinook Valley Road. Habitats featured on this trip include inshore saltwater
bays, with early arriving waterbirds, marinas (purple
martins are possible), fields and patches of shrubbery along
Stringtown Road, excellent for migrant passerines, then east
along the shore of Baker Bay. Here, on 18 November 1805, a
member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition killed “a buzzard
of the large kind” measuring nine and a half feet from
wingtip to wingtip—an early record of the California condor,
once a regular visitor to the Columbia River. We’ll check
feeders here for rufous and Anna’s hummingbirds Gazing out
to the mudflats at the Chinook River mouth might reveal
shorebirds if the tide level is right. The open fields and
shrubby thickets along Chinook Dike Road and Chinook Valley
Road are good for raptors and migrant passerines. We’ll look
for turkey vultures, white-tailed kite, bald eagle, northern
harrier, sharp-shinned and Cooper’s hawks, red-tailed hawk,
American kestrel peregrine falcon, and possibly a stray
red-shouldered hawk. Finally, a check of the Columbia River
out to East Sand Island might reveal numbers of Caspian
terns at this controversial colony. An estimated 11 million
salmon smolts were devoured by the terns in one recent year. Saturday night:
Dennis Paulson Meals Lunch - $7.50 each; Saturday and Sunday; box lunch - full sandwich with cheese (choice of turkey, ham, or vegetarian), chips, fruit, cookies. Buffet Dinner - $19; Saturday night only; Choice of beef sirloin tips over rice, herbed chicken over barley, or vegetarian lasagna, plus roasted rosemary potatoes, green beans with bacon and garlic, green salad with dressing, rolls and butter, fruit cobbler with whipped cream. Coffee and tea included. *All meals include a gratuity to the restaurant staff Conference attendees must make their own lodging arrangements directly. To be assured of accommodation, make your reservations soon at the Chautauqua Lodge, PO Box 757, Long Beach, WA 98631. Telephone: (800) 869-8401 or (360) 642-4401. Fax: (360) 642-2340. he Chautauqua Lodge has two types of guest rooms: lodge rooms and suites. Lodge rooms are 1-room units with 2 queen-sized beds per room. Rates for lodge rooms begin at $69.00. Suites are 2-room units with 3 queen-sized beds per suite plus a kitchen. Rates for suites are $109.00. The Chautauqua Lodge has 45 lodge rooms and 45 suites. The Chautauqua Lodge is located at 304 14th Street North in Long Beach. www.chautauqualodge.com Camping is available at Fort Canby State Park, 8 miles to the south. Hotel, motel, and campground information may be found at http://www.olympia.worldweb.com/LongBeachWA/WheretoStay/ |