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October 16, 2004

Today my mother and I led a WOS field trip to Tokeland and several other coastal locations with a total of 7 participants and 100 species tallied during the day. The weather remained steady light to moderate rain during the entire day, which seemed to have kept many passerines quiet, etc. and hindered nearly all our efforts in seeking such birds. Our route began along the Brady Loop Rd. complex. between 7:45am-9:30am,then continued onto the Johns River WRA with both locations hosting plenty of duck and upland game bird hunters. We continued onto Bottle Beach for a brief check for shorebirds during fast incoming tide before heading to North Cove. After scoping North Cove between 1pm-1:45pm,we traveled back north to Midway Beach walking the partially flooded open beach and dune areas primarily north of the roads end. We then made a short drive to Tokeland at 3:30pm and checked primarily the vicinity around the Tokland Marina, as well as at the south end of Graveyard Spit. Our last stop of the day before driving home was made at the Raymond Airport along S.R.105 to Raymond.

Our main highlights of the trip consisted mainly of the following species: 1 American Bittern along Foster Rd. (Brady Loop Rd. complex); 2 Great Egrets at the Johns River WRA with an additional bird noted along S.R.105 south of the Elk River bridge; 3 Greater White-fronted Geese along Foster Rd. with 3 additional birds for the day noted off North Cove; 4 adult Snow Geese along the eastern portion of Brady Loop Rd. complex (east of Foster Rd. amongst small numbers of "Cackling" Canada Geese); 2 Long-tailed Ducks off North Cove; 1 Pacific Golden Plover at Bottle Beach amongst a rather large flock of Black-bellied Plovers; 35+ Snowy Plovers at Midway Beach Rd.; 18 Willets (with 2 Whimbrel) at the Tokeland Marina; 58 Long-billed Curlews at the south end of Graveyard Spit; The lingering juvenile Bar-tailed Godwit at the Tokeland Marina amongst a flock of 750+ Marbled Godwits; 1 Parasitic Jaeger at North Cove; 4 Bonaparte's Gulls at North Cove; 28 Caspian Terns at Tokeland; 2 Marbled Murrelets off North Cove; 27 "Streaked"Horned Larks at Midway Beach Rd.; 1 Lapland Longspur at Midway Beach Rd.; 45+ Western Meadowlarks along Foster Rd. with 10 additional birds noted to end the day at the Raymond Airport.

Throughout the day we ran into several birders in the field at a few locations, where we exchanged sightings etc., which is always enjoyable. As mentioned previously many of the areas we checked were quite slow for songbirds, but a few areas were productive for such bird such as during our morning visit along the Brady Loop Rd. complex, then a fairly good assortment of various sparrows at the Johns River WRA. Shorebird numbers were most abundantly noted at Midway Beach Rd. followed by a few species noted at Bottle Beach earlier in the day. Good numbers of waterfowl were encountered at most locations with fairly consistent numbers of Canada Geese and "Cackling" Canada Geese noted flying or as grounded birds along with large numbers of Northern Pintail noted from a few scattered costal locations including at Bottle Beach and along S.R.105 east of Tokeland (Willapa Bay). Green-winged Teals were also noted in good numbers specifically flying over the Johns River WRA. Large numbers migrating Surf Scoters and Red-breasted Mergansers were also encountered from several costal locations from Bottle Beach to Tokeland with smaller numbers of White-winged Scoters also noted. Raptor numbers were somewhat few with our best diversity noted along the Brady Loop Rd. complex.

A list of additional species for the day of note included the following: Red-throated Loon 1 off North Cove (with 4 Western Grebes); Red-necked Grebe 1 off North Cove; Brown Pelican 12 off Bottle Beach 5+ off North Cove; Wood Duck 1 pair at the Johns River WRA; Northern Harrier 4 along the Brady Loop Rd. complex 1 at the Johns River WRA 1 at Midway Beach Rd.; Am. Kestrel 3 along the Brady Loop Rd. complex; Merlin 1 along Foster Rd. 1 along S.R.105 northwest of the North River; Ring-necked Pheasant 3 along the Brady Loop Rd. complex; Black-bellied Plover 10 at the Johns River WRA 184 at Bottle Beach; Semipalmated Plover 42 at Midway Beach Rd.; Greater Yellowlegs 17 at the Johns River WRA; Sanderling 113+ at Bottle Beach 25 off North Cove 75+ at Midway Beach Rd.; Western Sandpiper 3 at Bottle Beach 36 at Midway Beach Rd.; Least Sandpiper 108+ at Midway Beach Rd. 30 at the Raymond Airport; Dunlin 23 at Bottle Beach 235+ at Midway Beach Rd.; Long-billed Dowitcher 44 at the Johns River WRA 8 over Bottle Beach; Wilson's Snipe 3 at the Johns River WRA 9 at Midway Beach Rd. 5 at the Raymond Airport; Heermann's Gull 260+ at North Cove 65+ at Tokeland; Herring Gull 12 at North Cove; Western Scrub Jay 2 along Foster Rd.; Am.Pipit 14 along Foster Rd. 55 at Midway Beach Rd.; Yellow-rumped Warbler 2 along Foster Rd. 1 at the Johns River WRA; Savannah Sparrow 3 at the Johns River WRA 2 at Midway Beach Rd. 3 at Tokeland; Lincoln's Sparrow 1 at the Johns River WRA; Purple Finch 4 at the Johns River WRA.

Mammal species for the day consisted of the following: 28 Roosevelt Elk at the Johns River WRA; 5 Black-tailed Deer at Tokeland Harbor; Seals (noted from various locations including 1 observed slightly upstream along the Johns River); 2 Raccoons along S.R.105 at North Cove; 1 darner species at the Johns River WRA; Pacific Tree Frogs heard from a few locations.