Month: June 2025

A birding trip to the Washington Coast isn’t complete without a stop at Tokeland at the end of the trip, though the birding hasn’t been as good there in recent years since they dredged the channel.

I hoped that the Pelicans might be feeding there since we never saw any feeding near Westport. There was a small flock there, several in breeding colors, but apparently, like us, they had already had breakfast and were content to preen themselves.

Perhaps the most interesting photo of the day was of these three Great Blue Herons sitting in a peculiar pose, as if they were perched on their wings.

This Greater Scaup male was, surprisingly, the only duck we saw in the two days we were there. Turns out that Scaups, and ducks in general, tend to migrate earlier than shorebirds so this must have been a straggler

There’s very little shoreline at Tokeland, so there aren’t many shorebirds, but it’s far easier to isolate them from each other. I liked this shot of a Western Sandpiper,

a shot that would have been impossible at Bottle Beach because you can’t see them from this high of angle.

Birding Tokeland is quite different from birding Bottle Beach. Birding Bottle Beach is much more exciting, at least when large numbers of shorebirds show up. Birding Tokeland, on the other hand, is more meditative, a nice way to round out your trip.

Birding is always fun, but meeting and talking to other birders can make it even more enjoyable. There is a definite sense of community and camaraderie among most birders. There’s something special about sharing sightings with those who love it as much as you do.

There weren’t many visitors to Bottle Beach the two days we were there, but there was one man and his wife who were there both times, and it was clear that he was taking his photography more seriously than I was.

You won’t find me lying on the mud flats wearing hip boots and a rain jacket. Not to mention, if I were lying down as long as he was, I might not be able to get up when the tide came in.

The first evening, we talked casually for a few minutes, but mostly I just tried to ensure I wasn’t disturbing the birds he was trying to photograph in the distance. Early the next morning before the birds really started coming in, I asked a woman on the beach who was using a spotting scope what she was seeing, and she showed me some Red Knots in the distance. During our conversation she told me that was her husband out there.

I thanked her for showing me where the Red Knots were and headed in that direction to try to get some shots. Strangely enough, we ended up hours later sitting near each other in the Blue Buoy in West Port eating breakfast. I learned there that he was a professional photographer, rather than just a birder. We spent some time talking about photographic tools, and he gave me a card with his web site’s address, Kevin Merchant.

It’s an impressive site with even more photos than I have on my site. It’s certainly worth a few minutes of your time — and a lot longer than that if you’re really up to exploring everything that’s there.