Conferences

Contact Us

Field Trips

Join

Meetings

Links

May 4, 2009

Grays Harbor and Pacific Counties with Marv Breece

Seven of us birded the coast on a WOS trip Monday, May 4, 2009. We arrived at Bottle Beach about two hours before high tide. The weather was still in our favor. Highlights at Bottle Beach:

Red Knot - 30 +

Short-billed Dowitcher

Western Sandpiper

Semipalmated Plover

Greater Yellowlegs

Killdeer

Ruddy Tornstone - 4

Long-billed Curlew - 1

Black-bellied Plover - fabulous plumage!

Eurasian Collared-dove

Brown Pelican - a few

We drove down Smith-Anderson Road near North Cove in hopes of seeing Western Bluebirds. No luck, but in the vicinity we did see Mourning Dove and Band-tailed Pigeon. With the Eurasian Collared-doves at Bottle Beach and Rock Pigeons at various locations, it made for a four-dove day.

In the Tokeland area, we saw a nice variety of birds, including:

Marbled Gopdwit

Whimbrel - 30 +

Ruddy Turnstone - 50 +

Red Knot - 30 +

Merlin - 1 in flight

Greater and Lesser scaup - males together in the harbor made for nice comparisons.

At Midway Beach, we repeatedly heard an unmistakable Sora. Sooty Shearwaters were barely offshore in tremendous numbers. One Least Sandpiper. Lots of Sanderlings in various plumages.

Then the weather came in - wind and rain. The only bird of note we had at the Westport Mrina was a lone Spotted Sandpiper among the rocks.

On the way home, Bardy Loop was a bust, as was Wenzel Slough. One highlight was a single Lincoln's Sparrow.

Trip Species List