Hi Tweets -- I thought some of you might find this website of interest and
fruit for birding envy. This is a compliation of fascinating first person
accounts from the field through which you can get a feel and share in the
observer's excitment of what it might be like to be stationed on some of the
Gulf of Mexico oil rigs during peak Spring migration and attendant fallouts
this year. Pretty amazing stuff. Don't expect anything like this around here
anytime soon :-)) This comes from my friend and colleague, Robert Russell,
who moved this past February from Seattle to Louisiana to continue pursuing
his passion in studies relative to migration. A more detailed website is
planned but for now check this out if interested.

http://www.geocities.com/NapaValley/8596/specs.html

I'm only 'passing through' the PacNW from and to varied field assignments --
kind of a vagrant migrant myself, so am still in the 'tweeters postpone' mode
for now but should be back and and somewhat stablized perhaps by early 1999.

BTW, a couple of questions:

(1) Does anyone know if the Ocean Shores BRISTLE-THIGHED CURLEWS have been
seen recently???? Drat! I'm sure I blew it at my recent field station on the
central California coast of the past 2-1/2 months and should have been
perusing closely all those strings of hundreds of Whimbrels migrating
northward every day, especially in May, although it would probably have been a
tough if not impossible call on the wing anyway except perhaps under the best
of viewing conditions.

(2) When was the Gibsons XANTUS HUMMINGBIRD last seen?
......or is
it still there???

Richard Rowlett (Pagodroma at aol.com)
47.56N, 122.13W
(Seattle/Bellevue, WA USA)