By Kathleen Wolgemuth

I don't think Ocean Shores, with its varied habitat, does have a down time. Consider these sightings reported May through July 18. Locations include Ocean City State Park (OCSP), Marina (M), Bill's Spit (BSp), North Bay (NB), Damon Point (DP) with DP n for the inner bayside, DP s for outer bayside toward ocean, DP e for far tip, DP Se for a particularly good birding area, DP I for interior lake. 'IC" is the Ocean Shores Interpretive Center visitors' bird list.

Good birds include Fork-tailed Storm-petrels, Sabine' 5 3u11, White Pelicans, Snowy Plovers, Pacific Golden Plovers, Horned Larks, Lapland Longspurs, Gray-throated and Palm Warblers.

• Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels (J and DP n) May 1-3, 17 by Jim Alt, Nancy Holman, Bruce and Kathleen Wolgemuth.
• Black4hroated Gray Warbler, OCSP, by M Teesciale (IC list).
• 12 Red-necked Phalaropes, May 4, Grand Canal, Sandi Mitchell (IC list).
• 1 Snow Goose, May 19, Duck Lake (KW).
• 2 White Pelicans, May 21-27, NB, Anne Onnun, Norm Schut, Betty Smith, among many delighted North Beach residents.

Numerous birds were reported the last 10 days of May on Damon Point. May 21 circling the point, I saw the White Peli-cans, I Red Knot, 1 Willet, 5 Green-winged and 1 Blue-winged Teal, and small flocks of shorebirds that I expected (Western Sandpipers, Least Sandpipers, Semipalmated Plovers, Short-billed Dowitchers, Killdeers). Joining that variety the next day were 4 Ruddy Turnstones, 3 Black Turnstones and one dooms-day Common Raven. Norm Schut saw 3 and 4 Red Knots on the golf course then, too. Add to that diversity Ozmum's pheasant, along with our Turkey Vulture and 5 Marbled Godwits joining other shorebirds (BSp).

A great surprise May 31: A Snowy Plover at Damon Point, on exposed mudflats near the parking area where kids, dogs and people run free. I saw it off and on for the next week. Bob Woodley, a frequent visitor from Richland, WA, had spotted 3 Snowy Plovers in April at DP s, open beach.

June 1 opened the new month with no less excitement, with the Snowy Plover at DP n and a Sabine's Gull at DP Se. The [after landed near me for a five-minute rest, then was gone. I was so sure it couldn't be a Sabine's I examined it as carefully ~ it examined me, but how many gulls are delicate, sport forked tails, gray-soot hoods, and black yellow-tipped bills? I wonder how many good birds we miss on Damon Point? That same day, nearby at the Marina grasslands, Lapland Longspurs were reported, but I missed them.

Thanks to a tip from Rose DuBois on June 3, however, I didn't miss the sight of l00s of nesting Ring-billed Gulls (DP Se), watched over by greedy-eyed Western Gulls and circling Bald Eagles. With 4 Brown Pelicans cruis-ing the horizon, 35 Whimbrels and 30 Marbled Godwits and 6 Killdeer (DP n)~ it was a fine day indeed.

Again, on June 27, that fascinating se tip of Damon Point surprised me: 2 adult Pacific Golden Plovers and 8 juveniles, very unusual this time of year. As the wind howled, they lined up by l's and 2's against the driftwood logs while I hunkered down, nearly out of sight, to watch.

Other June highlights: an American Bittern, Grand Canal, reported by Sandi Mitchell (IC) on June 20. June 30, I found a lone Horned Lark as a Peregrine Falcon soared overhead (DP Se), and escaping the wind west of the interior lake, 100's of Western Sandpipers, their tiny heads barely visible in little scrapes. I spotted them in my scope as I was following Killdeer. Behind them, 2 Harlequin Ducks were floating on the lake. Long-billed Curlew were consistent June visitors at Bill's Spit, between 5 and 45 when I saw them, but few Marbled Godwits.

July's shorebird count has been climbing. High counts from Sue and Bill Smith on July 11:175 Whimbrels, 200 Short-billed Dowitchers, 20 Red Knots, 6 Long-billed Curlew. The next day, I sat on my beach before high tide as clouds of shorebirds flew in: over 100 Whimbrels, and probably as many Long-billed Curlews. Half split off, and still I counted 75, along with 100's of Western Sandpipers and Dowitchers. July 15, the entire spit and shoreline were covered with shorebirds just as I had to drive off; on the l6th, the Smith's Whimbrel count there was 110. Finally, D. Thompson and 7 other experienced birders visiting here reported (IC) 2 Rock Sandpipers (J); Whimbrels, Marbled Godwits and Long-billed Dowitchers (BSp), Black-legged Kittiwakes and Northern Fulmars (channel), Palm Warbler and Orange Crowned Warblers (Cabana Pool, renamed Perkins Pond).

The number of Red-winged Blackbirds and Red Crossbills are up, at least in my yard. The Brown Pelicans are down; there are no long loopy lines of them on the horizon. Woodley also wonders about the Heermann's Gulls. It was four days before he saw any at the jetty in early July, and then only a few. Any answers out there?