Hi Tweeters,

The Sharp-tailed Sandpiper is still present at the Hoquiam sewage pond in
Gray's Harbor County. I drove over this afternoon and was finally able to
observe it at 4:45 pm after looking for an hour and a half. Everything
written about this bird in the previous posts by Patrick Sullivan and
Richard Bledsoe is absolutely correct. It remains at the same location,
which is at the far southwest corner of the pond in the mucky area between
bridge and the metal gate. I was surprised by its skulking behavior. It
stuck closely to the patches of foot-tall wetland plants in this area and
it took 20 minutes of viewing before I finally got a brief clear look at
the entire bird. Actually, it's behavior seemed almost rail-like, with it
walking through and between the clumps of these plants and also into the
dense grass growing on the water's edge. It didn't associate with the
other shorebirds present, which were 8 Long-billed Dowitchers and 13 Least
Sandpipers feeding out at the water's edge for much of the time. I agree
with Patrick that the cap is a rather dull rusty color and not as bright
as that shown in the field guides. As the others have written, anyone
going to look for this bird should be patient and willing to spend some
time there. It may take a while for it to finally appear once you arrive.
But the wait was worth it, as I eventually got good close views and was
able to watch it for 50 minutes.

Gary Wiles
Tumwater, WA
wilesharkey at yahoo.com

__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo!
http://sbc.yahoo.com