Columbia Estuary Report - 8/31/1999

A COMMON TERN and a PARASITIC JAEGER were at the SJCR on Monday.
A large feeding flock of BROWN PELICANS, SOOTY SHEARWATERS and
COMMON MURRES have been taking advantage of runs of small fish
just off the jetty.

Shorebird numbers have been good though there have been no real
surprises for the most part. Todd Thornton found a BUFF-BREASTED
SANDPIPER on the Gearhart side of the Necanicum (he'll be posting
more details) today. A juv SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER was with about
100 WESTERN SANDPIPERS at the SJCR shorebird flats. Two PECTORAL
SANDPIPERS were seen on Sunday.

A likely migrant WESTERN TANAGER was at Astoria Middle School.

Shorebird counts
Trestle Bay 8/30/1999
Semipalmated Plover 19
Short-billed Dowitcher 1
dowitcher sp. 21
Western Sandpiper 500
Least Sandpiper 11
SJCR 8/30/1999
Semipalmated Plover 4
Short-billed Dowitcher 1
Black Turnstone 1
Baird's Sandpiper 3
Western Sandpiper 45
Least Sandpiper 17
Red-necked Phalarope 1

SJCR 8/31/1999
Semipalmated Plover 2
Short-billed Dowitcher 29
Long-billed Dowitcher 1
Semipalmated Sandpiper 1
Western Sandpiper 108
Least Sandpiper 58

--
Mike Patterson The common view of science is that it is a sort of machine
Astoria, OR for increasing the race's store of dependable facts.
mpatters at oregonvos.net It is that only in part; in even larger part
it is a machine for upsetting undependable facts.

----- H.L.Mencken
http://www.pacifier.com/~mpatters/bird/bird.html