7/12 A half-morning of birds

Tahuya Peninsula

Lake  - name unknown to me - near Camp Spelman, Tahuya Peninsula

I woke up at the Biser's early and iced my sprained ankle a little.  The previous day had gained me a single new species for the year - an unexpected Black Swift!  I had missed Ruffed Grouse in the morning, and thought I'd try spots on the Tahuya Peninsula - driving some more gravel roads in hopes of catching them on the road in the morning. 

I made a stop at Starbucks just as they opened at 5, then headed up Elfendahl pass road towards Camp Spelman.  This gravel road led to several camping and fishing sites, so traffic slowly increased during the morning.  Not much, just a car hear, a fisherman there, but it was interesting to see how people were using the area on a pleasant day in July.  Campsites were full, but the streets were empty, as far as Grouse were concerned. 


It was encouraging to find some good lakes worth looking over for coots and teal later in the fall.  I also found a grove of oaks!  This area was preserved, and large enough... it makes me wonder if it might be a good spot to look for a Lewis' Woodpecker, an Acorn Woodpecker, or a White-breasted Nuthatch as we get into fall migration.

Oak Patch near Camp Spelman - Tahuya Peninsula

Allyn to Kennedy Creek

Allyn Dock

Nothing new was showing up, and I had a wedding to get to in Portland, so I made my way south. The Allyn waterfront was my first stop.  I hadn't really walked out onto the pier, especially since summer had started, so I was pleasantly surprised to find nesting Purple Martins!  The male was quite unshy, landing near enough to get his picture taken with my phone.  It was easily the best view I've had of Purple Martins in my life!

Heading south from there, I thought I would try to find a way to view Skookum Inlet and honestly failed.  It's developed around the south side of the inlet, and I found no way to get a good view of it at all.  The bad views I got showed an awful lot of mud, and I was extremely curious about what kinds of shorebirds may show up there!

Purple Martin - Allyn

In circling around the little peninsula south of Skookum Inlet (I also could find no name for this bit of land - the area behind the Squaxin Tribal Center), I ended up popping back out at Kennedy Creek.  The tides were waaaaaaaay out, but there were still really good shorebird numbers!  I had about 100 Western and Least Sandpipers in the little puddles around the viewpoint.  I couldn't turn any of them into semiipalmated or Baird's, and no dowitchers or yellowlegs were in the mix, so I ended my trip and headed off to Portland.

As a post-note, Theler, which I had avoided this time, ended up with Long-billed Dowitcher, Western Meadowlark, and Semipalmated Sandpipers all in the next day or two!  Can't get 'em all!