This weekend I hiked to Williams Lake in extreme eastern King Co. This was
not a birding trip but I was looking around. The unusual (for me) bird
was a compact shorebird. Shaped like a sandpiper, small (same size to
slightly smaller than Dippers, often seen together) gray and white markings,
yellow legs, bill the length and shape of a typical sandpiper profile,
prominent white shoulder marking. I'm sorry but I didn't get the primary to
tail length comparison. I consulted every book I had I didn't get a
particularly good match. I'm guessing Spotted Sandpiper based on Nat't Geo.
Field Guide. Is it at all unusual to find this bird at a mountain lake?

The elevation of the lake was about 4400 ft. Surroundings were light
timber, timberline about 500-1000 ft. higher, open meadows, lots of streams
and potholes. The lake is small (i.e less than 1/2 mi. across), deep in
some areas but with some large shallow areas with about 1/2 the lakeshore
had marshy margin the other half rocky. Weather was light breeze, sunny, 40
- 70 degrees F.

Charles Vaughan
Woodinville, WA

P.S. Nice sighting of a female Cooper's Hawk and she flew within 3 feet of
my head (but didn't seem to be attacking) for my Audubon Moment on this trip.