Rare Birds at Neah Bay Today

Juvenile Buff-breasted Sandpiper.

Today Ken Brown, Bruce Labar and I headed for Neah Bay in Clallum County, WA to look for an incredibly out of place Painted Redstart that has been seen over the last few days on the trail at Cape Flattery. Cape Flattery and Neah Bay are located in a geographically strategic location in North America. If you are a bird that for some reason is travelling northwest on the North American continent, and you come to the Pacific Ocean and turn north, you eventually come to Cape Flattery where if you want to continue you are faced with the Pacific ocean to the west, the broad watery expanse of the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the north, and the option of stopping, turning around and returning south, or exploring the area. It turns out that many birds faced with this scenario seem to choose to hang out for a while. This leads to rare vagrants being found in the Neah Bay area almost every fall.

The Painted Redstart seems to be a species with a tendency to vagrancy and has been found far from its usual locations on rare occasions. We were excited on arrival at the previously reported location, just north of the picnic tables on the trail at Cape Flattery, to see Brad Waggoner aiming his camera up towards the tree canopy. He had located the redstart, and we all got great looks almost immediately. Unfortunately the redstart, a small wood warbler, was feeding at least 60 feet up in the conifers, and getting a photo was not possible for me. Still, this was a first ever Washington State sighting of this bird, and so of course a state first for all of us.
The rest of the day was just bonus time. We continued to the overlook at Cape Flattery, where we saw Black Oystercatchers, Tufted Puffins, and a variety of other species.

Back in town we looked for and managed quick looks at another vagrant, a Tennessee Warbler, near the tribal museum, and I heard a calling Northern Waterthrush near the east end of town. We could not locate the bird to see it.
Just before we left town to head home Bruce got a text that a Buff-breasted Sandpiper, another uncommon Washington species, had been located north of the campground at Hobuck Beach. We headed there and quickly located the BBSA along with two Baird's Sandpipers, Western Sandpipers, Semipalmated Plovers, and I finally managed decent photos of a good bird. Actually I really like these photos, and have included several.

Good birding. Steem on!