Subject: Red Knots at the Nisqually NWR
Date: Sep 1 19:39:54 2004
From: Ruth Sullivan - godwit at worldnet.att.net


Hello Tweets,

This evening my mother and I searched again for the probable Long-billed Murrelet at Luhr Beach between 5pm-7:30pm with again NO luck. Conditions were quite windy and rough with only a few alcid noted,as we carefully scoped the open water. We were joined by Bill Shelmerdine,Keith Brady and Bob Morse and eventually our efforts turned to shorebirds roosting at high tide along portions of the Nisqually Delta. Double-crested Cormorants persisted to be in very good numbers offshore,as were large numbers of waterfowl from the Nisqually Delta and increasing as the tide moved further in. The main highlight here were up to 3 juvenile Red Knots and a single Black-bellied Plover(remaining in very crisp breeding plumage). We all watched the 4 birds,as the roosted within Salicornia along the shores of McAllister Creek,then eventually joining near a roosting gull flock in better viewing conditions. We watched the bird from the covered dock,but shortly before we left the birds could not be relocated,but probably went to a more concealed area to roost. Other shorebirds of interest during our visit from Luhr Beach included the following:

3 Semipalmated Plovers
10 Sanderlings(observed in small groups and single birds at the Nisqually Delta)
500+ Western Sandpipers
30+ dowitcher species(observed along the farthest portion of the Nisqually Delta,being either Short-billed or Long-billed Dowitcher or both, but due to distance of the birds an exact species would be nearly impossible to judge)

2 Northern Harriers were also noted hunting over portions of the Nisqually Delta.

Perhaps conditions at Luhr Beach will improve tomorrow for additional searching.



Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
Fircrest,WA
godwit at worldnet.att.net