Friday night after artswalk in Olympia, we happened to be walking past the
southern end of East Bay (Budd Inlet) about 10 pm and noticed at least a
small horde of shorebirds making a lot of noise as they foraged and rested
on mud near the mouth of the creek there. We did not have a light but they
appeared to be both "peep" size and Dunlin size/shape.

Last night about 1130 pm, after adding considerably to our lifelist at the
Procession of the Species, we checked out the same area, this time with a
light that helped a bit but not much. We spent more time walking near the
shoreline in the area and estimated 2000-3000 birds, most appeared by voice
and size/shape to be Dunlin. Not ideal census conditions though given that
it was dark except for street lights.

Now I've seen shorebirds foraging by moonlight before and heard that it's
quite common, but the remarkable thing about this sighting was that there
was no moonlight and the birds were in an area where I have never before
seen large numbers during the day. I've been bike commuting past this site
for several years now mostly during daylight and have never seen more than a
smattering of Dunlin, a few yellowlegs and killdeer.

This is a commercial/industrial landscape with quite a few street lights and
other lights in the area. From the bird's perspective, my guess is that the
birds were using these artificial lights for a bit of illumination to forage
in an area that they do not use during the day. Possible reasons why they
might not use the area during the day but use it at night: 1) an artificial
constructed high bank (about 20 feet tall?) just above the mudflats limits
their line of sight and leaves them feeling too vulnerable to predators
during the day, 2) too many people walking by too often during the day.

Another other thoughts, opinions? Has anyone else seen noticed nocturnal
shorebird flocks at sites they do not use during the day?

Chris Chappell
cchappell at thurston.com
Olympia, WA