Hi tweeters,

After all these years, I finally get to report a rare bird on tweeters!
The Bristle-thighed Curlew was the bird I most wanted to see in the world,
but because I have a policy of "no SOBs" (no stake-out birds), I declined
to make the trip to the south jetty of the Columbia River to see the
birds that were there. However, I didn't consider the Washington birds
stake-outs, as it sounded as if the birds that had been seen at
Ocean Shores could be anywhere or nowhere.

I planned to go to Ocean Shores last Sunday and then got sick. Then it
turned out there was no full day my wife and I could both go down this
week, but my only responsibility today ended at 10 a.m. in Tacoma, so
we left for the coast after that.

A friend had told me that a BTCU was seen just north of the Ocean Shores
jetty on Monday, so I thought that would at least be a good place to
start our search (hmm, sounds suspiciously like an SOB). We arrived there
just after 1 p.m., but there wasn't much there, at least nothing with
bristles on the thighs. We then proceeded to drive on every stretch of
beach to the north where it was legal, again with no curlews, although
lots of pretty itty-bitty shorebirds.

We tried the Catala Spit, then the (nonexistent) game range, then decided
for one more try at the jetty, which is a good place to bird anyway.
We got there just before 4 p.m., walked out to the beach and were
scanning up and down, back and forth, and roundabout, when I heard a sharp
"whee-o-wit" right above me, looked up and screamed "there it is!" A
Bristle-thighed came in right over our heads and landed on the beach, then
walked over to a Whimbrel that must have arrived just before when we were
looking the other way.

The two preened and then promenaded, looking for food but not
finding much. They allowed me to come within moderately satisfying
photographic distance (got the two side by side and more impressed than
ever how similar they are) but were wary enough, probably because of the
Whimbrel's basic nature, that they walked away as I tried to approach a
bit closer. Slowly approaching the B-t but not watching the Whimbrel, I
didn't realize that it was taking off until the B-t lifted up to join it;
at least I got gorgeous views of their respective rumps.

They disappeared across the dunes at low altitude, obviously heading for
the grassy area on the other side of the road among all the condos. We got
in the car to patrol the area and very quickly found them. We didn't push
them, just watched them forage on insects along the road for a while and
finally drove away with giant grins on our faces. It was a thoroughly
wonderful experience, with a significant component that I had found the
bird myself.

What was even more satisfying was when I returned to Seattle and
discovered that I had been misled about the Monday bird, that in fact it
had been seen near the *Westport* jetty, and no one had seen one at Ocean
Shores since about last Thursday!

Four summers ago we had spent a day north of Nome looking for the BTCU on
its breeding grounds, just about ruining our legs walking over incredibly
difficult tussock tundra, with no luck. I had despaired of ever seeing
this bird in my lifetime, although I was seriously thinking of a trip to
Tahiti if all else failed. But now I guess we don't have to go to Tahiti
(sigh . . .).

Dennis Paulson