Just in from an afternoon birding along Lake Washington. I'm reasonably
certain that I saw a Long-Billed Dowitcher at the Seward PArk bathing
beach. It was a little bigger and slimmer than a robin. Long legs,
couldn't really make out the color (I put down "beige" in my notes), long
straight black beak. The feathers on the back made a kind of shingled
pattern, dark grey-brown with pale edges. The breast and sides were subtly
striped a warm russet and darker brown with the sides just under the
widest park of the wing a little darker. The belly seemed russet, the
same color as the sides, but with no stripes. Tail appeared dark. There
was a subtle stripe from the edge of the eye to the beak. (Peterson's
illustration shows an eyestripe with a lighter stripe above it. I was able
to get a good look at this bird's face and it didn't seem to have that
upper eyestripe. The bird was standing quietly right at the edge of the
water, not really doing much, occasionally turning its head to one side or
the other. Some kids running by disturbed it- it gave out a high "peet", a
little like a Killdeer, then flew up and into some high grass right next
to the beach. When it flew up I could see white under the wings and around
the tail. It repeated the call while it was flying.

Sorry for the long detailed post, but this is a life bird for me, and
one of a family I'm not real familiar with. If what I've described sounds
right, could someone let me know.
Thanks,
Catherine Alexander
Lakewood Neighborhood
Beautiful South Seattle

kittyroo at scn.org
cma at vmresearch.org