Birthplace of the winds…

Temp in the low 50s, mostly cloudy, occasional light rain, west wind 25-30 gusting to 50 (maybe more)!

Since it was so windy, we decided to go look for birds who don’t mind a little breeze — seabirds. So we drove out to the Loran Station (the northern tip of the island). However, the visibility was less than desired. We gave it a try anyway and were rewarded(?) with one Short-tailed Shearwater and a bunch of Black-legged Kittiwakes. Whoop-dee-do!

When we got back to Clam Lagoon, the tide had actually receded a bit and exposed some flats. A quick scan of the peninsula revealed a couple of shorebirds at the bend, so Frank headed out there. He quickly found a couple of Rock Sandpipers and two peeps. They turned out to be a Western Sandpiper and a Red-necked Stint. A little farther out, he found a Ruddy Turnstone, then a couple of Sanderlings and more Rock Sandpipers. Nice to see some shorebirds!

Ruddy Turnstone, Clam Lagoon, Sept 13, 2014.

Sanderlings and Rock Sandpipers, Clam Lagoon, Sept 13, 2014.

Western Sandpiper (left) and Red-necked Stint, Clam Lagoon, Sept 13, 2014.

Over at the seawall, a Gyrfalcon was hunting.

Gyrfalcon, Clam Lagoon, Sept 13, 2014.

If the wind dies down a bit tomorrow, Frank will walk Contractors Marsh and/or the Clam Lagoon marsh edge.

We drove around town a bunch, looking for “small hawks” to no avail.

We saw one adult Peregrine today, so we may have four here right now.

Remember the ONE shearwater mentioned above? When we got back down to the palisade overlook, there were thousands in Kulik Bay! Try as we might though, we could not find any albatross mixed in.

Here’s hoping these high winds dropped some other birds on the island that we will discover tomorrow.