Hey tweets, My husband and I stole a day yesterday to drive down to
Tokeland and twitch out the bar-tailed godwits. We felt guilty the whole
way down, but who cares? In Elma we stopped for a bite of grease-heavy
tacos (more guilt) and what should appear but two scrub jays. We saw them
near Betty's diner and also in the police station parking lot. Now how's
that for cosmic something or other?

At any rate, we continued down to Tokeland, trying to outrace the incoming
tide. When we arrived, however, the tide was so high that the marina was
already completely full of water. No mud at all. At first we thought, no
godwits at all either. But then we noticed dozens and dozens of brown balls
on the jetty, and two lighter-colored balls. Yep, the bar-tailed godwits
are still there. Not only that, but the flock decided to rise up and fly
right over our heads, circling numerous times to give us full views of
their bellies and their feet sticking out the back. They settled on a
wooden dock nearby, with one bar-tailed on the very end. In perfect light -
blue sky, bright sun. After squatting there long enough for us to see his
eyebrow line, the godwit rose into the air and flew around the marina,
spreading his bar-tail this way and that. You couldn't ask for a better
view. Oh and there was an American avocet in the godwit flock, too.

This morning my husband and I are paying the piper. We're both up at 3 a.m.
trying to get the work done that we should have completed yesterday. But as
we're sitting here, groggy and tired, we both have big smiles on our faces.
Thanks, tweeters, for your generosity in supporting this bulletin board and
filling it with sightings that can produce such a perfect day. - Connie,
Seattle

csidles at mail.isomedia.com