Dennis Paulson and others have commented recently on weather patterns vs. Asian
shorebirds. During summers such as the last do these birds simply avoid North
America, or overfly the NW? Several opinions were voiced. Certainly shorebir
ding in the NW has been very slow this summer. Howevever California has had 2
adult RN Stints, the Little Curlew, a Sharp-tail, and a photographed Little Sti
nt (yet to be verified I guess). There may be others that I haven't heard abou
t. This seems to favor the overflight hypothesis, or are NW birders just letti
ng them pass unnoticed?

(PS pardon this message if you've received it twice before, I'm having trouble
with the mail system here)