Dear Tweeters,

On August 10, I saw lots of shorebirds in Skagit
County, plus some Soras.

At the Samish West Ninety, the pond closest to the
parking area was the place to be. Other ponds were
mostly dry, and all had virtually zero birds; the
close-in pond had two Greater Yellowlegs, an LB
Dowitcher, lots of Least and Western Sandpipers, a
Semipalmated Sandpiper, and, most surprising of all,
three juvenile Soras. The three Soras were foraging
together along the edges of the fast-shrinking pond; I
think the lack of moisture in the rushes may have
induced them to leave the sheltering vegetation and
venture out among the sandpipers.

At the Jensen Access on Fir Island, I arrived just at
high tide, which is about the only way to get good
looks at shorebirds there. This year, thank goodness,
there is a freshly ploughed field right by the edge of
the dike, and scads of shorebirds flew onto this field
as the waters flooded the marshy edges beyond the
dike. There were at least 23 Semipalmated Plover
(probably closer to thirty or even forty). Three
Black-bellied Plover stayed out on the saltwater's
edge, but hundreds of peeps came in and joined the
Semipalmated Plovers. Among the Leasts and Westerns
were three Baird's Sandpipers, a species that used to
be easy to find at Jensen every year in August, when
there were lots of dirt fields near the saltwater. In
recent years, it seems that these fields have had too
much plant cover for shorebirds at this stage of
migration. As I watched the Baird's Sandpipers,
another species of shorebird flew in, seemed to decide
that the dirt field was way too dry, and flew into the
little puddle outside the dike: a juvenile Red-necked
Phalarope! Offshore, several dozen scoters stayed out
of range, but I could discern at least two each of
Surf and White-winged. There were around a dozen
Common Loons out there, along with a few Northern
Pintail and Mallards, and about a thousand Ring-billed
Gulls. It seemed like good old times at Jensen Access!


Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch

near Lyman (Skagit County), Washington

garybletsch at yahoo.com


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