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.