March 10 - Westport, Washington

It was clear and 26° F when we got up this morning at 8:30 - we hadn’t set the clocks ahead for Daylight Savings Time, and slept in until what would’ve been 7:30 . . .    Marty and I decided to drive over to the Coast, and we went south and around the Capitol Forest via the Elma-Gate Road to Highway 12, where she could do a drive-by assessment of a couple of her work projects.  On the drive over, I stopped at a couple of places to scan the swan flocks, as I haven’t seen a Tundra Swan yet this year, but all the birds I looked at were Trumpeter Swans.

We drove out to the south side of Grays Harbor, through Westport, and out to Westhaven State Park.

Gulls were bathing in the freshwater deflation plain 'pond'

I walked out to the base of the jetty to see if I could find any ‘rockpipers’, but didn’t see any.

There was a lot of "human traffic" on the Jetty

So, we went over to the finger jetties and harbor in Westport, but again I didn’t see any shorebirds.

In the Westhaven Marina there were quite a few Western Grebes

Love those red eyes!

and gulls to sort through on the wooden breakwater

I only saw one Mew Gull amongst the other gulls . . .

I did run into the Black Hill Audubon Identifying Shorebirds class, led by Scott Mills, as they departed Float 21,

The class included Ken Brown and Mary Pearce

where there were a few Marbled Godwits and Black Turnstones.

There are often 'shorebirds' on the old floats on the north side of the boat basin.

The "black dots" were Black Turnstones

I was surprised at the 'suds' floating through the commercial docks toward the Coast Guard station.

Hope they're using organic detergents . . .

Defeated by the rockpipers, Marty & I went to Blackbeard’s brew pub for dinner and a couple of pints of their Märzenbier.  Littlerock-area birder Jay Stene came in for a pint, and told me that the class had seen birds on the rocks at the Fishermen’s Memorial, so after we finished eating, we stopped there, and sure I climbed back onto the breakwater to scan the rocks.

One of Westport's Finger Jetties

Sure enough, there were Surfbirds, Rock Sandpipers, and more turnstones on one of the finger jetties that I’d scoped earlier in the day.

Surfbirds, Black Turnstones, and Rock Sandpipers on these rocks

“Time, Patience, and Perseverance will accomplish all things . . . .” 

I didn’t see any Life Birds today, but added Black Turnstone, Surfbird, and Rock Sandpiper as “Year Birds”.

Westhaven State Park eBird Checklist is Here

Early Afternoon Westport Marina eBird Checklist is Here

Late Afternoon Westport Marina eBird Checklist is Here