.............................Drove slowly through the Whitetail Deer
Refuge on a misty Friday early afternoon. Saw:

Hooded Merganser(F)
Greater Scaup(1)
Widgeons
Bufflehead(lots)
Lincoln's Sparrow(1)
Canada Geese
Dunlin
No Schoveler(1)
Several Harrier Hawks(1 chasing and harassing a Red-tailed Hawk)
Pied-billed Grebes
Belted Kingfisher(1)
Northern Flicker(1)
Short-eared Owl(1--who, for a short time, settled in a tree real close
to several of us--got a fantastic view of this owl)
.................Herons, Mallards, Crows, etc. etc. but a noticeable lack
of the usually abundant species of waterfowl--late migration??A
White-tailed Kite was reported seen, but before I arrived there.
.................Hugh flocks of Dunlin, with some West. Sandpipersdeen
Sat. late on the beach just north of Long Beach, Wa. Mild but windy.
.................On Sun: Low tide wasn't very low, very abundant masses
of shore birds fed quite close to shore---making for easy viewing with
just binos.:

Dunlin(again*zillions* of them!!!)
West. Sandpipers
Least Sandpipers(about 12 directly observed)
Semipalmated Plovers(again about a dozen)
Black-bellied Plovers
Greater Yellowlegs(2)
.........and some common ducks,and a G. Blue Heron.

.......................The north ocean beach near Leadbetter Pt. was the
domain of flocks and flocks of West. Sandpipers and Sanderlings, along
with some Black-bellied Plovers. An interesting note.---saw 3 injured
Western Grebes who couldn't fly, and had trouble walking the beach, and
1 dead one laying on the sand. Saw this same thing a year ago---4
crippled W. Grebes who all died. And both times following a stormy
south wind. A gentleman walking the beach said that Grebes have been
dying the last month.He was told that a virus attacks their nervous
system' so......apparently with weakened wings are carried north of
their usual haunts, till they can't fly anymore and drop to the beach.
Eventually the legs then give out, and they get paralyzed all over. Has
anyone hear the reasons for the 'kill-off' of these Grebes??
.....................This message a bit longer than anticipated. Didn't
see anything new, but thoroughly enjoyed and marveled at observing the
sheer *numbers* of shorebirds concentrated in specific locations.

Gerald Hamilton
Brush Prairie, Wash.
gerald at e-z.net