Southwest Washington, Sept 23-26

[kestrel]

I met up with Larry to go on a Westport pelagic. Leading up to the boat trip, the two of us also did some land birding. Our first stop was the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, near Olympia. Didn't see anything out of the ordinary here, though it's always nice to see a new hotspot.

The next day, we checked out Grayland Beach State Park in hopes of finding Snowy plovers and a then-recently-reported Blue-gray gnatcatcher. After dipping on both, we were successful in tracking down a Bar-tailed godwit at the marina in Tokeland . This was a lifer for us both.

Other than a couple of offshore fog patches, the weather during the pelagic was perfect. Lifers for me consisted of Laysan albatross and Short-tailed shearwater. Marine mammals were well-represented, with whales, porpoises, and sea lions being seen.

ebird.org/tripreport/75500

[Bentley]

Looks like it was a great trip! I got to get on a pelagic sooner than later

[Chris]

Looks like a successful trip Joel.

The 650 Godwits is something else!

[kestrel]

Correction: The lifer shearwater that I got was a Flesh-footed, not a Short-tailed. Though I couldn't figure out which individual it was, I did the entire mixed-species cluster of shearwaters that it was mingling with.

[Krissi]

An Albatross of any kind would be a dream! Congrats on your lifers