Subject: Iceland gull
Date: Jan 24 09:18:27 2000
From: John Fleckenstein - JFMM490 at wadnr.gov


Folks,
I tried to stay away from this debate but find I must make two comments. Many points have been raised, then repeated until they are badly bruised and might be good candidates for rehabilitation or euthanasia. I find, however, two points have not been discussed openly.

Most EMail systems have an option that allows response without inclusion of previous EMails. Our call and response exchanges can result in very lengthy messages if previous EMails are included. Delving into your EMail system might give you a chance to reduce this use of bandwidth and relax a little. Second, its and it's each have a place in our language. Those places are separate but entirely equal. If "it is" fits, "it's" is correct. If it owns something, "its" is it. (Since I don't clutter my head with rules for inclusion and exclusion of birds on a life list, I can collect useful and arcane grammar rules.)

Birds...oh yes.

On Sat. night around 10, my wife and I were down at East Bay in Olympia, gaping at a 50 foot tri hull boat. It's a white fiberglass monster that seems to be doing 30 knots while tied up. We finally got distracted by birds. The tide was very low with extensive mud flats. 30+ large shore birds were feeding on the flats. They were quite vocal; a semi musical single note. They may have been yellow legs. The area was lit by street lights, but I wondered if the birds would be present even in the dark. A feeding bonanza like this tide couldn't be too common. They probably don't need much light to feed, but finding the flats and watching for predators can't be too easy. Does anyone know about shorebirds feeding in the dark?