Ocean Shores/Hoquiam, Washington

In May, I spent two nights down in the Grays Harbor area to do some birding. This was towards the tail end of spring migration, and I was hoping to see some nice shorebirds. Overall, the birding was okay, although I wasn’t able to bird Grays Harbor NWR properly because it’s half a mile walk each way to the main trails, and my knee did a big NOPE on the idea.

Highlight bird was a Glaucous Gull, a rarity that was hanging out on the beach in Ocean Shores. It was also one of the easiest lifer species I’ve had, since I drove out onto the beach, saw the brilliant white gull, and ticked it off the list.

What fascinated me about the bird was how much brighter white it was that the other white gulls around it. I don’t think it shows up all that well on a camera, but the difference to my eyes were stunning. And in the photo above, it’s in front of a truck because the people inside were feeding the gulls at the time, and it was doing the gull thing by joining the mosh pit and chasing snacks.

Photography wasn’t great — most of the birds were quite distant — which is why I didn’t get around to processing the images for almost three weeks, but there are a few decent images, including my first images of a Spotted Sandpiper since moving to Washington.

It was a nice couple of days, and I enjoy that area, but I should probably bird it a week or two earlier to maximize the migration possibilities.