Three of us looked at East Bay birds Sunday morning.

The oddest and saddest sighting was a Western Grebe. Christina and I had seen
it on Saturday, on the afternoon high tide, the first mid-summer sighting of a
Western at East Bay. The earliest fall arrival has been 3 October and the
latest spring lingerer was 16 May.

Yesterday the grebe constantly preened and "stood" in the water, but at a
distance it was hard to tell why. Then it started skittering across the water,
trying to take flight directly toward me. When it raised itself half a meter
above the surface, I could see a piece of line with a lure or sinker hanging
below the grebe's right foot. Before long the bird gave up, fell to the water,
and speared toward its leg.

This morning, 18 hours later, the grebe was in the same place, but on a low
tide. Again it was self-absorbed, focusing on its foot. I wonder how many more
days it might be there, struggling.

Select counts from Saturday's high and Sunday's low at East Bay, Olympia:
(These are from water, mud flats, pilings, and the cobble shoreline, all south
of the marina. Upland birds and flyovers are not tallied.)

18 19 July
H L
1 1 Western Grebe
1 0 Double-crested Cormorant
14 4 Canada Goose (+44 on Swantown Fill on the 19th)
5 14 Mallard
0 2 Great Blue Heron
4 5 Killdeer
0 2 Greater Yellowlegs
1 0 Western Sandpiper
2 5 Least Sandpiper
10 1 peep sp.
0 1 Belted Kingfisher (a juvenile male, it seemed to me, with quite a bit of
bright rufous)
2 0 Purple Martin (conservative count; others were flyovers; appear to be >3
active boxes; 2 seen discarding fecal sacs)
0 2 Rock Dove
0 7 European Starling (only mud-flat foragers and flyovers; don't appear to
be in boxes)
0 1 Harbor Seal

Thanks to Christina and Phil for company. And to the Farmer's Market for
breakfast after the walk.
--
Scott Richardson
Olympia, Washington
salix at halcyon.com