After shorebirding at Bowerman Basin today, I found this on my windshield:

Grays Harbor Audubon Action Alert
Please call the federal congressperson listed below who
represents the Grays Harbor area and ask that money be
appropriated for the building of a boardwalk at the Grays
Harbor National Wildlife Refuge. Total cost is estimated at
one million dollars. The boardwalk will make it possible for
many people to visit the area and enjoy the hundreds of thousands
of migrating birds as they fly north in the spring from Central
and South America to Canada, Alaska, and Siberia, and then back
again. The money invested in this boardwalk will be economic
help to an area which became dependent on timber related jobs
which are in transition.

Senator Slade Gorton Senator Patty Murray Congressman Norm Dicks
(202) 224-2801 (206)553-5545 (800)947-6676

Seems reasonable. I don't think I'll write to ol' Slade, though. His
idea of helping the local economy would probably be to employ gunners to
go out and shoot the birds, then try to make Aberdeen-Hoquiam famous for
its roast dowitchers and scrumptious shorebird-meat pies. Hey, don't
sneer! I'll bet they could support themselves for three, maybe four
years before they run out of birds. That's the way they think around
these parts.

BTW, there were goodly numbers of the usual birds today. I'm poor at
estimating numbers, but I'd guess 10,000-15,000 shorebirds on the flats in
the observation area. One of the guys from the refuge said they did a
flyover yesterday and estimated 100,000 in the entire estuary.

Burt Guttman guttmanb at elwha.evergreen.edu
The Evergreen State College Voice: 360-866-6000, x. 6755
Olympia, WA 98505 FAX: 360-866-6794