Tweeters,

I wrote the Washington State Recovery Plan for the Upland Sandpiper (we
haven't recovered them yet). I felt hampered throughout the process
because of a general lack of detailed documentation of sightings in years
past. Descriptions of habitat were almost never available. I was faced
with a number of sightings that lacked detail. It was easy to accept
sightings from the 1950s or 1960s in the east Spokane Valley because
the species was expected and lots of people specifically sought this bird
at this location. But, there were other sightings in other areas that
were very difficult to evaluate. The more time that had passed, the more
difficult to gather information upon which to base a judgement of
reliability.

I eventually reached the conclusion that Upland Sandpipers occasionally
migrate through eastern Washington and virtually all of eastern Washington
is within the POTENTIAL breeding range of the species. I believe that
we may see colonizing nesters almost anywhere in eastern Washington.
This species definitely took birders and scientists in Oregon by
surprise in the mid-70s when they suddenly were discovered to be
more common (and widely distributed) than previously thought.

I would like to see detailed descriptions of Upland Sandpipers observed in
Washington, a precise location for each sighting, and a description of the
habitat the bird was observed in as well as a description of the habitat
on a more "landscape" scale. That's what I would like to see.

It's possible that we can encourage Upland Sandpipers to again nest in
Washington. If we can identify an area where birds are spending time,
we might be able to influence habitat management to produce some taller,
denser grasslands for nesting and sparser, lower grasslands for foraging.
It's worth a try but we can't get anything going without birds (or, without
knowing where they are).

Kelly McAllister
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife