Hi Tweets,

Meant to get this in sooner. On Sunday, the Iona Settling Ponds contained,
not in checklist order:

Western Sandpiper ~3,500 80% Def Alt, 20% Ptl Alt
Semipalmated Sandpiper 26 23 Def Alt, 3 Ptl Alt
Least Sandpiper ~30 all Def Alt
Greater Yellowlegs 1 Def Alt, a returning migrant

The Westerns were very tense and suspicious, and the Killdeers kept them on
the hop (for fun, I always suspect). There was a fresh, cold southeasterly
breeze blowing, a diametrically contrary wind for these southbound birds;
maybe the upper level winds were a little less unhelpful. For the duration
of my observation, about 1 1/2 hr, groups of 15-20 Westerns & Leasts, with
the occasional SemiSand, flew in from the NW, beginning to feed voraciously
as soon as foot touched, er, earth.

Met up with Ken & Kris Klimko and walked out to the end of the Iona South
Jetty. On the rocks on the N side of the jetty at pipe section 106, more
than halfway out the 4 km (2.5 mi) jetty, a female Yellow-headed Blackbird
was repeatedly feeding a *very* recently fledged juv male, still with some
down on it. Both Ken & Kris had seen this a day or two before. This is very
interesting because no male Yellowheads were calling from their usual spots
on the Outer Pond, nor were there any juv begging calls except for one
fledged juv on the E bank, well away from the usual nesting sites. It seems
they're very close to vacating Iona for this year.

Michael Price When I found out that seven of my years
Vancouver BC Canada was only one of theirs,
mprice at mindlink.net I started biting absolutely everything.
-Max Carlson (Ron Carlson's dog)