Hi Tweets,

I took off of work a little early this afternoon and
headed over to the Montlake Fill hoping for a few
shorebirds. My trip was a success before I even got
to the main pond, as I saw a WESTERN MEADOWLARK fly
into a tree just east of the pond. I scanned the
shore for nearly 10 minutes and only found a SPOTTED
SANDPIPER as well as a single LEAST SANDPIPER, and the
usual KILLDEERS.

After walking around for a bit and not finding
anything else of note, I decided to head out. On my
way out, I was surprised by the sound of a shorebird
overhead. I looked up in time to see a single peep
flyover and I followed it with my binoculars until it
landed on the main pond. I decided to go back to
check it out. I figured since there was little else
on the pond, it wouldn't be too hard to figure out
what it was because I wouldn't have to scan through
several small groups of peeps.

As I came around to the southwest corner of the main
pond, I saw this bird sitting next to the feeding
Spotted and Least. The first thing I noticed about
this bird was its short stubby bill and dark legs, it
was a Juvenile SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER. I watched it
for about 5 minutes before a Killdeer decided he
didn't like my presence anymore and spooked the 3
others. The Least and Semipalmated circled a couple
of times before heading over to the lake. They
disappeared just behind the cattails at the edge of
Lake Washington.

Michael Dossett
Bothell, Washington
phainopepla at yahoo.com

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