................Saturday along Willapa Bay at Leadbetter Pt.---Long Beach
peninsula, Wash.(as the afternoon tide went out): Billions of Western
Sandpipers along with numerous Least Sandpipers.....and 1 Spotted
Sandpiper; Black-bellied Plovers(many juveniles); 1 Short-billed
Dowitcher, and 1 Ruddy Turnstone along with C. Terns and a Ring-billed
Gull. Birders reported *not* finding the Curlew Sandpiper on the ocean
side.
..................Sunday on the beach side north of Oysterville Rd.(as
the tide came in--early aft.): Zillions of shorebirds everywhere---
prodigious amounts of Sanderlings; large numbers of Ruddy Turnstones,
Short-billed Dowitchers, and Semipalmated Plovers ; many, many
Black-bellied Plovers; some West. Sandpipers; and.....3 Snowy Plovers.
Brown Pelicans, Brandts and Double-crested Cormorants flew either just
off shore or overhead. 1 Red-necked Phalarope was reported seen by
other birders (but not by me!!).Lots of Caspian Terns.
...................Curlew Sandpiper *not* found by several birders
earlier in the morn. I hiked almost as far north as the Snowy Plover
area signs, but no Curlew Sandpiper seen by me. It may have moved
on...........
...................Like I said, the sheer numbers of shorebirds on the
beach was breathtaking....and sheer beauty!!!!
...................Cheers!!!

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