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Saturday, April 26th, 2003

Bottle Beach to Ocean Shores

Patrick and Ruth Sullivan led a trip in Grays Harbor County from Bottle Beach to Ocean Shores.

This field trip to Grays Harbor and Pacific Cos. between Bottle Beach to Tokeland covered additional areas including Westport, the Johns River Wildlife Area and an evening visit to the Brady Loop Rd. complex and Wenzel Slough Rd. near Satsop on our way home. We had a total of 7 other participants with a total of 114 species for the day, including 20 species of shorebirds. We managed to have a very good day birding and weather wise with only a few showers throughout the day mainly at the beginning and at the end of the trip.

Due to the Grays Harbor Shorebird Festival we ran into many birders throughout the day in additional to birding friends at several locations, as we encountered several key highlights for the day that were especially noteworthy to most of the field trip participants. We began our trip at Bottle Beach at 8am during incoming tide, where we spent considerable time scoping and watching the foraging shorebirds that moved in with the tide, as we watched them separating the birds to species.

Shorebirds of 11 species at this location consisted mainly of Western Sandpipers followed by Short-billed Dowitchers with other species in lesser numbers, as we watched them until 9:20am before checking the shorebird activity across S.R.105 along Ocosta Third Street on foot until just after 10am adding a few more species to our day list. We then traveled west with a quick stop at Twin Harbors State Park,then continued south to Tokeland, where the wind began to blow from the south.

We checked several locations at Tokeland and actually had a good assortment of species including a single female Black Scoter, which seemed very unusual for the location and our first personal record for that location, as we watched it with a single Surf Scoter in Willapa Bay south of the Tokeland Marina. After birding at Tokeland until 12:20pm we continued north to Midway Beach Rd. for lunch, stopping along S.R.105 near MP 20 and south of North Cove. We scoped the fairly heavy surf as well as the exposed mudflats close to the road, where we added a few more species for the day, including up to 25 Black Turnstones. We arrived at Midway Beach Rd. at 1pm then after eating lunch and talking with fellow birders walked the sandy beach north of the end of the road. We encountered good numbers of migrating Greater White-fronted Geese and "Cackling"Canada Geese flying overhead heading north, as well as getting good looks at "Streaked"Horned Larks. We attempted for Snowy Plovers, but were unsuccessful in locating this local target species.

Continuing north to Westport we spent the most time at Westhaven State park at the base of the Westport Jetty and encountered a few notable species for the trip including up to 3 Rock Sandpipers and 2 Ruddy Turnstones in a flock of Black Turnstones with a few Surfbirds that were all observed in flight on the north side of the jetty, as the swirled around and made a few passes before landing about midway out of the north side of the jetty and out of view. We also located up to 2 Wandering Tattlers that were at times hard to see, but visible to most as the winds continued to blow from the southwest. Other notable species for this location included: 1 Red-necked Grebe, 1 male Harlequin Duck, and up to 6 Black-legged Kittiwakes.

After birding Westport, we made a nice worthwhile stop at the Johns River WA and walked the paved trail to the observation blind with a few notable species including the lingering adult Snow Goose with 10 Greater White-fronted Geese, 6 Cinnamon Teal, and a single Lesser Yellowlegs. As mentioned we stopped by the Brady Loop Rd. complex on our way home with our last stop made along Wenzel Slough Rd. at 6pm,as we encountered a few heavy rain showers, but noted a few last highlights for the day. Our stop along Foster Rd. was very rewarding as we encountered 2 Lesser Yellowlegs with one bird giving good comparisons to a nearby Greater Yellowlegs followed by a good scoping views of an American Bittern in the same location my mother and I observed presumably the same individual on the 12th and 13th of April.

Our trip ended along the western portion of Wenzel Slough Rd., where our last species of the day was several Northern Rough-winged Swallows. Our trip went well due to efforts made by all participants in spotting species, although our list could have been higher due to the lack of some passerine species, but the trip was rewarding nonetheless.

A list of other notable species for the day follow at selected locations: Brown Pelican, 1 off Bottle Beach, 27+ at Westport; Wood Duck, 1 male along Ocosta Third Street; Cinnamon Teal, 1 along Foster Rd., 1 pair along Ocosta Third Street, 6 at the Johns River WA; Turkey Vulture, 1 along S.R.105 at the Johns River, 7 at Tokeland, 4 at the Johns River WA, 1 along S.R.105 west of Markham, 8 along Hwy.12 over the Wynoochee River bridge (west of Montesano), 2 along Hwy.12 west of Montesano, 3 along Brady Loop Rd., 14 along Wenzel Slough Rd. (perched in Red Alder trees for a possible evening roost); Osprey, 2 along Wenzel Slough Rd. at Vance Creek Co. Park, 1 along Hwy.12 at a nestsite at Montesano, 1 at Tokeland, 1 along Hwy.12 near Brady, 1 along the central portion of Wenzel Slough Rd.; Cooper's Hawk, 1 at Tokeland; Am.Kestrel, 1 male along S.R.105 at Bottle Beach ; Merlin, 1 at Tokeland; Peregrine Falcon, 1 along S.R.105 south of North Cove; Virginia Rail (heard only), 1 along Ocosta Third Street, 1 along Foster Rd.; Sora (heard only), 3 along Ocosta Third Street; Willet, 2 at Tokeland; Whimbrel, 1 at Bottle Beach, 2 at Tokeland, 15 along the eastern portion of Brady Loop Rd.; Marbled Godwit, 300+ at Tokeland at two separate locations; Ruddy Turnstone, 1 at Bottle Beach, 2 at the Westport Jetty; Surfbird, 32 at the Westport Jetty; Red Knot, 14+ at Bottle Beach, 3 at Tokeland; Bonaparte's Gull, 2 off S.R.105 near MP 2(south of North Cove); "Streaked"Horned Lark, 13 at Midway Beach Rd.; Western Scrub Jay, 1 along Brady Loop Rd.; Am.Pipit, 2 at Midway Beach Rd.; Wilson's Warbler (heard only), 1 along S.R.105 near Tokeland; Mammal highlight of the day: 1 Racoon near the top of a deciduous tree along Wenzel Slough Rd.

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan