Tweets,
Just got back from a weekend over by Forks. Yesterday out at the La Push
estuary there were a good assortment of birds. Among notables were an
estimated 135 Brown Pelicans, 975 California gulls and 2 Baird's
Sandpipers. The unusual thing was that the Baird's were on the channel
rocks, not on the exposed mudflat. In a clearcut on the way to La Push
there was a female Western Bluebird.
I really was shown a whole new appreciation for some of the birds I take
for granted. My friend Megan has just started learning her birds and three
birds I usually take for granted Brown Pelican, Caspian Tern and Black
Oystercatcher were the first time she had ever seen them in the wild and
to see the joy on her face while watching the pelicans and terns fly and
fish was a real joy for me. As a side note she told me that she really
like watching the terns fish, even better than the pelicans. Might make
those who are uptight over topics think about the simple joys of the bird
world and maybe take another look at some of those commoner species.

Scott Downes
sdownes at u.washington.edu
Seattle WA

"Birds don't read bird books. (That's why they are seen doing things they
are not supposed to do)." -Mary Wood