Columbia Estuary Report - 9/16/97

At Fort Columbia (Pacific Co.WA), a large bird feeding party was
the highlight of the monthly census on Sunday.

Warbling Vireo 1
Hutton's Vireo 2
Orange-crowned Warbler 1
Yellow Warbler 1
Townsend's Warbler 2
Black-throated-gray Warbler 3
Wilson's Warbler 3
Swainson's Thrush 2

Sunday's high tide at the the South Jetty of the Columbia River
not too bad with 6 GREATER YELLOWLEGS, a WHIMBREL, 4 LONG-BILLED
DOWITCHERS, 15 SANDERLINGS, a WESTERN SANDPIPER and 2 RED-NECKED
PHALAROPES.

The real excitement is the early winter storm with which we are
being buffetted as I write. At today's high tide it had blown in
about 800 gulls on to the ponds (well, today it was one giant
lake) at the South Jetty. 12 BROWN PELICANS were on the pond(s)
and 36 small _Sterna_ terns were flying around enjoying the 40+kt
wind and sitting in the parking lot. Most were COMMON TERNS, but
at least 3 (2 adults and a juvenile) were ARTCIC TERNS.

7 BLACK TURNSTONES, 4 RED-NECKED PHALAROPES, 1 RED PHALAROPE,and
2 LEAST SANDPIPERS were also around. Across the pond were 3 medium
sized non-descript shorebirds, mostly hiding in the grass, but the
weather was too uninviting for me to leave the relative comfort of
my car to get a better look.



--
********************************* I am but mad north-north-west;
* Mike Patterson, Astoria, OR * when the wind is southerly,
* mpatters at orednet.org * I know a hawk from a handsaw.
http://www.pacifier.com/~mpatters -ws