Fall Vagrant Season Continues: Phainopepla In Sequim

Phainopepla Phainopepla nitens is an unusual bird in a class called "Silky Flycatchers."

This is a common species in much of its range, generally found in arid areas of the southwestern United States. Here in Washington there was one previous state record from Sept 24, 1994, a sight only record from Seattle. Yesterday a young bird was located in Sequim, WA and many birders dashed there and saw it yesterday.

This morning Bruce Labar, Ken Brown and I headed out to try for ourselves. Bruce and I picked up Ken at Purdy at 6:30 AM and arrived at the corner of Runnion Rd and Sawmill Rd near Railroad Bridge Park. When we got there we saw a few birders taking photos of the Phainopepla, and got immediate views through a kind birders spotting scope as we set up to watch. Over the next hour or so the bird foraged and hid in the Blue Elderberry tree about 79 feet off the road, and at one point perched at the very top for the photo above.

We did our "hot-damn-bird" dance and headed for Dungeoness Landing where we found a large flock of Black-bellied Plovers with one American Golden Plover juvenile, and one molting adult Pacific Golden Plover mixed in the flock. Both golden plovers were first ever Clallam County birds for me, and the PGPL was a FOY state bird. The two FOY WA species put me over my goal for the year of 320 Washington species, now at 321. This is an all-time high for me, and I still have >3 months to spare, so hopefully the number will grow.

We got home by 2:30 PM tomorrow I head north to Bellingham, hoping to spot a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper on the way, as one was seen yesterday by Marv Breece at Wylie Slough.