Date: 6/9/26 3:23 pm From: Bob Boekelheide via Tweeters <tweeters...> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Shorebirds on the Coast
Hi Blair,
Like Dennis says, early June is the slowest time for migrant shorebirds on the coast, because they’re all nesting somewhere else. Particularly so in Dungeness Bay, where the June swoon is in full swing right now. It’s slow out there! There are still Black-bellied Plovers here, almost none of which have black bellies, showing their youth. In the past ten days there have been occasional Marbled Godwits, Whimbrels, Semipalmated Plovers, Greater Yellowlegs, dowitchers, and one distant peep, but they are very elusive, depending on tides.
We really look forward to the last few days in June, when the first “fall” migrants start to arrive, like Dennis says. For example, the last few days in June and the first week in July is a particularly good time to see adult Semipalmated Sandpipers amongst the peeps in Dungeness Bay.
Clallam County now has 50 shorebird species on the county list, but only four of those shorebird species regularly nest in the county. Can you name the four?
Almost all of our wintering and migrant shorebirds have departed for the north by mid May, but there are a few late migrants after that. A small number of nonbreeding birds of some species do hang around during summer.
The first arriving southbound migrants are usually in the last week of June, adults of the sex that isn’t involved in parental care. In species in which both sexes participate, they are mostly absent until mid July. Once the juveniles fledge, parental care ends, and the juveniles start appearing in southbound migration in August. So yeah, this is a dead time of year for migrant shorebirds. Time to head for southeast Oregon to enjoy the breeding ones!
Dennis Paulson
Seattle
> On Jun 8, 2026, at 12:06 PM, B B via Tweeters <tweeters...> <mailto:<tweeters...>> wrote:
>
> I am planning a trip to the Washington Coast tomorrow. I looked up observations in the past week on Birder's Dashboard and was surprised to see very few reports in general and few if any reports for a number of species. I was particularly surprised to find no reports of Willet at Tokeland and no reports of Marbled Godwits at Westport and frankly very few reports in general.
>
> I checked my Ebird reports and was surprised to find that I have birded the coast most months of the year but not June. I would love any insights as to whether the absence of reports for the past week is due mostly to not much birding there in the past week or to just not many birds as the shorebirds have migrated out (which of course would be a good reason for no birding there).
>
> Any feedback to my email or on tweeters would be appreciated. Thanks.
>
> Blair Bernson
