----- Original Message -----
From: Ruth Sullivan <godwit at worldnet.att.net>
To: <nettasmith at home.com>
Sent: Friday, August 03, 2001 10:31 AM
Subject: Re: shorebird habitat preference


> Hi Dennis,
>
> Thank you for responding to this dicussion what has been recently
addressed
> of our Stilt Sandpiper sighting, as we state we never bird this area, and
> the talk about mudflats with the connection of this bird. I must repeat
> where we saw this bird it was far away from mudflats, rather close to the
> dike where there are several ponds.The reason we went back to visit this
> area again,to see if the "ponds" would be there at low tide also, and they
> were certainly evident there yesterday at the time where the tide was way
> out. Second, the Stilt Sanpiper flew in, as did the smaller "peeps" and
the
> Pectoral Sandpiper. The bird was feeding and not roosting what I expected
> the birds to do due to a high tide as it was on Sunday the 29th. I would
> also like to mention that the birds seemed nervous flying in and out of
the
> ponds, in the end we did not see the Stilt Sandpiper or the Semipalmated
> again. I managed to got few photos of this bird also there where three
> observers so there should be no queston to confirm our sighting
> Some birders went Monday to find a Solitary Sandpiper on the Skagit city
> pond,what we also did not find yesterday ,also we went to the West 90
ponds
> where Steven had a
> American Golden Plover earlier that day.We spend a lot of time on these
> ponds, in order to get the high tide on the Jensen Access later.We saw
> different birds as Steve did(not question his sighting at all.)so this
bird
> left and did not stay.I looked at the place and spend some time to find a
> rool of film that i lost as i photographed the Bairds Sandpiper in
breeding
> plumage.First record for me in this breeding plumage. As we mention ,a
> person with two big dogs came and one dog came to the pond and chased all
> the birds of trying to even jump on me.Going back to the Jenson exit the
> second time as we waited ,there was NO shorebirds on the Marsh ponds and
> since it was such a high tide at 5.58PM tide was8.4 this ponds increased
in
> size.Also i must mention that i never read anything about this area in the
> summer.Thanks to David Beaudette report in "WASHINGTON
> BIRDER"Shorebirds,Maps and Skagit County that we decided after not going
to
> Jetty Island on Sunday.I hope more birders will include this place in
there
> routine of birding in Skagit to keep some records what can be found there.
>
> Ruth Sullivan
> godwit at worldnet.att.net
> Tacoma
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Netta Smith <nettasmith at home.com>
> To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
> Sent: Friday, August 03, 2001 9:58 AM
> Subject: shorebird habitat preference
>
>
> > Yo, tweets.
> >
> > I read with great interest the discussions about shorebird habitat
> > preferences, all the while supposing that such a valuable discussion
> > wouldn't have begun if it weren't for the questioning of a rare bird
> > sighting. Probably just about everything has been said, but I did want
to
> > add a few additional comments. I'll bet everyone who has been involved
in
> > the discussion believes, like me, that it's counterproductive to say
> > "always" or "never" for where birds, these far-flying vagile creatures,
> > might occur. The possibility of them turning up somewhere unusual is
> > responsible in some part for the enthusiasm of birders for getting out
in
> > the field.
> >
> > Not only do birds turn up in unusual localities (for first state
records,
> > etc.), but they can turn up in unusual habitats as well, especially when
> > they find themselves in a situation where their optimal habitats just
> aren't
> > present. A good case in point is the Florida Keys, where I never
> encountered
> > habitats for freshwater shorebirds, except a few briefly flooded low
areas
> > on Big Pine Key. I've seen both Stilt and Solitary sandpipers there on
> > saltwater mudflats adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean.
> >
> > I agree that Solitary is very much of a freshwater bird, and I've never
> seen
> > one on salt water in the Pacific Northwest. I would say this species
> > typifies the freshwater shorebird, and I considered my sighting in the
> Keys
> > remarkable (my best photo of the species is from that encounter).
> >
> > Stilt Sandpiper, however, is quite comfortable with mudflats adjacent to
> the
> > ocean on the Atlantic coast, and I wouldn't be terribly surprised to see
> one
> > in such a habitat here. It's very straightforward to predict that
because
> a
> > species is rare in an area (as is the STSA around here), the probability
> is
> > high that extremely few will be seen in suboptimal habitat, so the vast
> > majority of sightings are indeed in those habitats that are more
typical,
> as
> > has been discussed at length. Where the species is common, you are more
> > likely to see it in suboptimal habitats just because there are so many
of
> > them.
> >
> > I've used the habitat argument myself when judging the validity of a
> > rare-bird sighting, so I'm not criticizing that approach at all. A
record
> > still has to stand on its own merit, and observers should keep in mind
> that
> > when they see a rare bird in an unusual habitat (I'm not referring to
the
> > STSA in question, as I do think its habitat was appropriate), they have
an
> > even greater responsibility to provide good documentation to those who
may
> > judge the record.
> >
> > Now, how about the reason this discussion began? A really important
thing
> > for birders to remember is that records committees, North American Birds
> > editors, and others who judge the sightings of their friends and
> colleagues
> > do so not as a power trip but instead because they feel passionately
about
> > the need to preserve an accurate picture of the status of birds in their
> > region over time and space. Again, this is why birding is so important
to
> > ornithology. Nevertheless, ornithology - the science - has to maintain
its
> > standards. Someone really has to do this rather thankless job in an
> attempt
> > to keep birding and ornithology from an acrimonious divorce.
> >
> > And one more thing. I would have asked Roger Tory Peterson or David
Sibley
> > or Kenn Kaufman (name your own icon) for documentation if they had
> reported
> > a juvenile shorebird to me 10 days before the known earliest date! But
> > anything is possible; the earliest juvenile ever found in Washington of
an
> > Arctic-breeding shorebird was a Semipalmated Sandpiper on July 12. That
> > record, which I would have questioned vigorously, was adequately
> documented
> > - the specimen is in the Burke Museum.
> >
> > Dennis Paulson
> > --
> > Netta Smith and Dennis Paulson
> > 1724 NE 98 St.
> > Seattle, WA 98115
>
>