Birders,

The "golf course slough" at the north end of Lummi Bay (reached from the
end of Decatur Drive in the Sandy Point Heights subdivision) is turning out
to be quite a hot spot. I was there from 6 PM to almost 9 PM yesterday, and
scoped the shorebirds first with Nick Page, and later with Larry Moss. The
highlight was at least 8 STILT SANDPIPERS which were present most of the
time. The tide was high during my visit.

A pesky MERLIN buzzed the shorebirds twice-- one just after Nick arrived,
and before I arrived, and again about 2 hours later. On both occasions,
most of the shorebirds took off, disappearing farther up the slough.
However, given time, most of them seem to return. A female NORTHERN
HARRIER also spooked the shorebirds once, but not as badly as the
Merlin (they took off, but soon landed again).

My count/estimate of shorebirds present was as follows:

Killdeer 2
Greater Yellowlegs 15
Lesser Yellowlegs 20
Western Sandpiper 50
Least Sandpiper 6
Baird's Sandpiper 1 (heard in flight-- not seen)
STILT SANDPIPER 8 immatures for sure-- possibly 9
Short-billed Dowitcher 1 (gave "tu-tu-tu call)
Long-billed Dowitcher 25

Nick or Larry, if you saw additional species or higher numbers of the above,
please correct me. (I know Nick had a SPOTTED SANDPIPER there in the
morning which was not there in the evening.)

The STILT SANDPIPERS were seen at very close range, actively feeding in
shallow water with dowitchers, Lesser Yellowlegs, and peeps. I believe
this is a new high count for Whatcom County, and a it's a new bird for my
personal county list.

For the record, higher than usual numbers of Stilt Sandpipers have been
seen recently at Salmon Arm in south-central BC (100 birds on August
12), at Prince George in Central BC (27 at one locality), and in the
Vancouver area.

In Whatcom County, the "golf course slough" is obviously the place to be for
the next week or two, if not longer!

Good luck and good birding,

Wayne C. Weber
Delta, BC
contopus at telus.net