Stuart wrote:

>Saturday, September 2nd: I walked from Point Brown to about 3 miles north of
>Illahee - phew !!! On the trip north I counted 1300 sanderling. However after
>a quick nap when I got back down to the roost site at Butter Clam road - 2
>miles north of Point Brown about 4000 birds appeared on the beach.
>
>The question is: where did the other 2500 birds disappear to. I suspect they
>were either pushed north of where I got to by the plague of humans on the
>beach or out to the beaches around Damon Point. It's also possible they were
>on the Westport side of the estuary.
>
>Anybody got any info ????

No info, but I can tell you that I never saw more than a few dozen
Sanderlings in the Damon Point area, mostly juveniles. Obviously
suboptimal habitat for the species and probably not where the missing birds
went.

I think of shorebirds as among the most vagile of all birds and would never
be surprised at flocks flying several to several dozen miles routinely
between feeding and roosting sites or alternate feeding (or roosting)
sites. I have many times watched birds pick up and, from watching with a
scope, obviously move between Westport and Ocean Shores areas across the
widest part of the harbor. Regular movement between Leadbetter Point and
Tokeland, between Ocean Shores & Westport jetties, etc.

Or maybe they were hiding underwater, each with a little hollow reed with
which to breathe, just to fake you out.

Dennis Paulson, Director phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416