Hello everyone,
This evening after 8PM (and hoping there would be fewer people on the
beach) I spotted 10 to 15 LEAST sandpipers feeding quite far up the beach
very close to and even bathing!---what a delight---in the fresh water of
Des Moines Creek "delta."

They were easily visible, once you knew where to look, feeding just below
the beach park foot-bridge amongst the stones and mud. A single, larger
sandpiper, most likely a Semi-palmated from the paler appearance and
shorter thicker bill (compared with the Westerns that were in our area in
the past couple of weeks,) was near the Least flock, but it was spooked
away before I could confirm the ID. The Least's are really quite tolerant
of people.

There was also a mixed-age group of 10 (or more) KILLDEER with the
majority being raggedy juveniles and approx 4 adults milling about close
to the salt water's edge. The brief semi-annual seasonal appearance of
RING-BILLED and BONEPARTE'S gulls has started the "fall" phase.....one
breeding-plumed Boneparte's and a scattering of Ring-billed's, both
adults and immatures (cannot distinquish their years, yet.) Also, our
small-number-during-the-summer resident flock of semi-wild Mallards has
3X'd their population (not just this year's hatch, but more adults) in
past few days, seems a tad early for them to do that.

Cheers,
Maureen Ellis me2 at u.washington.edu Univ of WA and Des Moines, WA

"Finding the occasional straw of truth awash in a great ocean of
confusion and bamboozle requires vigilance, dedication, and courage."
-Carl Sagan-