Hi Tweeters,

Andy Stepniewski and I have been discussing the reports of Stilt Sandpipers in southern B.C. and near Othello with great anticipation. There have been only two sightings of Stilt Sandpipers in Yakima County -- one in 1985 and one in 2000, both in the fall and both by Andy. We figured this would be our year to find them here in larger numbers. Stilt Sandpipers are a Class 6 species for Yakima County -- Class 6 being a species I haven't seen here yet.

John Hebert and Richard Repp were alerted to our theory and have been searching. They were successful Friday afternoon at the Grandview Sewage Treatment Plant where they found three juvenile Stilt Sandpipers.

I made it down there this morning and found one STSA working the mud of a pond that also had 8 juvenile Long-billed Dowitchers, about 30 Western Sandpipers and 2 Red-necked Phalaropes. I checked other ponds but found no STSA or dowitchers. I went back to the first pond to try to get more photos and found three STSA, 3 Greater Yellowlegs, 1 Lesser Yellowlegs, 7 juvenile LBDO, one juvenile Short-billed Dowitcher, 1 adult dowitcher sp., and 8 RNPH.

Photos of one of the Stilt Sandpipers are in the new photos folder on my website. There is also a photo quiz that I encourage you to leave a comment on.

Denny Granstrand

* Denny Granstrand *
* Yakima, WA *
* dgranstrand at charter.net *
bird photos on-line at:
http://osprey.bardill.net/gallery/