The DOT border cams are now active for all the crossings in Whatcom County
at http://www.borderlineups.com/

There's so much good birding just north of the line. This will help a lot.

Jack Kintner kintner at nas.com Blaine, WA

At 07:42 AM 5/1/01 -0700, you wrote:
>Birders,
>
>In case some of you missed it, two BLACK-NECKED STILTS (plus one
>AMERICAN AVOCET) were reported on the WOS BirdBox on April 25 at
>Crockett Lake on Whidbey I. (Island County) by Steve Mlodinow et al.
>
>Yesterday, April 30, two STILTS were seen along 152nd Street in
>Surrey, B.C., for the first sighting this year in the Vancouver, BC
>area.
>
>However, this pales compared to the number of stilts being reported in
>southern Alberta. On April 29, 48 (!) stilts were seen by Ian Halladay
>at Langdon Slough, near Calgary. On the 28th, 29th, and 30th, a total
>of 47 stilts were reported at 3 different locations near Brooks,
>Alberta (Malcolm McDonald). Although stilts occur most years in
>extreme southern Alberta, these numbers are extremely high.
>
>Past invasions of Black-necked Stilts (e.g. the major invasion of
>1977, which brought large numbers to eastern Washington for the first
>time) have been associated with drought conditions and low water
>levels in the main stilt breeding range (California, Nevada, Utah,
>etc.). I'm not sure to what extent that is true this year, but it will
>be interesting when all these occurrences are tied together and linked
>with weather patterns.
>
>Meanwhile, stilt fever (not to be confused with stint fever!!)
>continues.
>
>Wayne C. Weber
>Kamloops, BC
>contopus at home.com