Hello Tweets,

This afternoon between 3:15pm-4pm my mother and I ventured over to check out
the shorebirding location mentioned by Charlie Wright yesterday onto
Tweeters along 96th Street E at the intersection of McCutcheon Rd. E and the
eastern end of 96th Street E(east of S.R.162 and the town of Alderton),as it
turns into Riverside Dr. E. The exact area is fenced off to the public and
is property of the Pierce County Flood Control,but is viewable from the the
shoulder of 96th E. looking into the mitigated wetland. We encountered most
of the species that Charlie encountered, but also located a single
SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER in breeding plumage amongst the foraging Least and
Western Sandpipers along the eastern portion of the mudflat area. The bird
was well observed in our Kowa scope with our zoom lense and compared to 2
nearby Western Sandpipers by showing very pale upperparts showing NO rufous
or rusty/copper tones on the cap or back as in the Western Sandpipers in
addition to the very short,stubby bill and fairly long wing projections. The
bird was immediately picked out after initially locating it in our scope and
could easily be refound while searching for other shorebirds. The paleness
of bird with it's grayish-brown back, coverts, and scapulars and the limited
fine streaking on the breast were well noted in each scope view, and the
feeding behavior compared to the nearby 2 Western Sandpipers seemed less
deliberate as the bird seemed to feed more with 3 Least Sandpipers that were
also nearby. The feeding behavior was exactly in fashion than we have noted
in other Semipalmated Sandpipers in WA by feeding more plover-like and
further up from the water's edge than the Western Sandpiper. This particular
observation was my mother's first spring record for this species in WA,as
I(Patrick) encountered a single breeding plumaged bird at the Kent Ponds on
the 19th of May,1999(published in WOS #63),which was originally found by
Dave Beaudette on the 14th of May,1999. Nevertheless, Semipalmated Sandpiper
is a quality bird anywhere in WA in spring. The last species of shorebird to
be found at this location was the adult breeding plumaged PECTORAL SANDPIPER
that my mother found after carefully scoping the vegetated mudflats at the
eastern portion of the flooded shorebird area,which was one of very few
spring records to our personal records in WA.This sighting might quite
possibly represent a first Pierce Co. record,although a photograph was not
obtained on sight due to the distance to the bird being on private property.
This Pierce Co. shorebird location is an excellent location for migratory
shorebirds, quite possibly in fall too and our condolences go out to Charlie
for posting this Pierce Co. location,as shorebirds are quite difficult at
times within this county,but with enough effort perhaps more location will
be found within Pierce Co.

A list of our additional shorebirds species and other highlights during our
extensive visit follow:

1 pair of Wood Ducks
1 male Cinnamon Teal
1 female Bufflehead
1 female Hooded Merganser
1 female Ruddy Duck
1 Osprey
1 Semipalmated Plover in breeding plumage
2 pair of nesting Killdeer(with up to 5 young noted)
2 Solitary Sandpipers
1 SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER in breeding plumage
18 Western Sandpipers
62 Least Sandpipers
1 PECTORAL SANDPIPER in breeding plumage(rare in spring)
1 Common Snipe

A single male Am.Kestrel was observed heading north on S.R.162, north of
Alderton.


Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
GODWIT at worldnet.att.net