Subject: Semiahmoo Spit
Date: Sep 27 00:06:22 1999
From: tuisto at oz.net - tuisto at oz.net


At 08:00 AM 9/21/99 -0700, Wayne Weber wrote:
A flock of about 400
>BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS feeding on the mudflats took off, circled about
>for a couple of minutes, and landed a few hundred metres farther west.

I wonder if this is the same flock I saw later on the 21st on nearby
Semiahmoo Spit. 400 seems like about the right number, all in non-breeding
plumage. Initially I saw a few on Drayton Harbor but they fled from me and
other passersby, and eventually all ended up in a huge congregation on the
Semiahmoo Bay side of the spit. Other sightings:

Common Loon ~15, scattered in twos and threes, aboput half juveniles
Great Blue Heron at least 20 or so
Belted Kingfisher 1
Killdeer 2 (three times)
Mew Gull a few
Ring-billed Gull many
Glaucus-winged Gull many
"Olympic" Gull many
Double-crested Cormorant 30-50
Harlequin Duck 7
Black Oystercatcher 1
Surf Scoter dozens
White-winged Scoter (?) ~6
Mallard ~50
Canada Goose ~75?
American/NW Crow many
European Starling 4-5
House Sparrow a few
Song Sparrow a few
Savannah sparrow 15-20
House Finch 10-15
Black-capped Chickadee 1
possible American Kestrel 1

bunnies 3
harbor seal ~5
river otter carcass 1

purple seastars, barnacles, mussels, white anemones, crabs, etc.


Paul Talbert
Seattle
tuisto at oz.net