>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.

Spotted sandpipers are common breeders at mountain lakes, and you probably
saw one of the fledged young of the year. Solitary and Baird's sandpipers
also commonly migrate through high-elevation lakes, but I think any other
shorebird would be unusual (I didn't say impossible, just unusual).

Dennis Paulson