Hi:

Just returned from a relaxing visit to Mora, in Olympic National Park on the
Quillayute River across from LaPush. While at my camp site on Friday 9/11 I
saw through the trees, a crane flying above the river. I then went to a more
open spot on the river to see if I could see it anywhere and watched for about
30 minutes without any luck. From my book "Birds of North America" I
tentatively identified the bird as a Sandhill Crane. I have never seen one
before, and to me it looked like a giant goeduck - with wings.

Saturday, 9/12, while sitting at my campsite, a Sandhill Crane flew in and
landed on the sand bar on the Quilliayute River, directly opposite my camp
site, about 100 yards away from me. Once more, opened my book, and identified
it as a Sandhill, and further identified it as an immature bird, due to its
all uniform brown coloring. I was able to watch it through my binoculars for
about 10 minutes, before a man walked onto the sand bar with a camera and
scared it away.

On Sunday, in pulling into the parking lot at Rialto Beach (across from
LaPush) I saw what I thought was a Sandhill Crane flying south along the beach
toward LaPush. While I searched for my binoculars to get a better look, it
disappeared. The bird at Rialto was not a cormorant which are plentiful in
that area, but had a much longer neck and its wings moved much slower and were
more fluid.

While at my camp site I also watched a female Belted Kingfisher catch a small
red rock fish in a tidal pool in the river during an out tide. The fish was
almost as long as the bird, and while the bird struggled with it, then carried
it off and landed in the river, I never did figure out if it was able to
swallow the thing.

Jim Brewster
BrewsPad at aol.com
Kent Washington