Last night Ken and I headed for Westport to stay the night and head out on the winter Westport Seabirds trip. It was sketchy re weather, but yesterday Phil thought we could get out. Well on arrival this AM we learned that the seas had gotten rough overnight and the trip was cancelled. That said there were lots of good birders poking around the adjacent coastal areas today, and Ken and I headed for Tokeland first. Yesterday we had the large flock of Marbled Godwits at the Westport Coast Guard Station, and today we started at daybreak with Willet’s and Least Sandpipers at the Tokeland Marina. We birded the area for over an hour and managed to find a Palm Warbler in the Scotch Broom on one of the side streets. At Graveyard Spit we added Greater Yellowlegs to my year list, and while there we texted Bruce about the PAWA. He outdid us with an adult Slaty-backed Gull on the crescent beach at Westhaven State Park. Since we were at Tokeland we made a few stops on the way back, getting Snowy Plover at Midway, and by the time we got to Westhaven dogs and walkers were on the beach, and all the gulls had left.
We tried the marina, but no luck.
On the way home we drove Brady Loop, and surprisingly found Trumpeter and Tundra Swans, both Gray’s Harbor eBird firsts for me, and then Wenzel Slough Rd before dropping Ken off at his car by the little park in McCleary.
Our day totals were 54 species in Pacific County, 52 in Gray’s Harbor County, and 74 species on 9 lists for the 2 days.
Not a bad consolation for the cancelled pelagic trip.