Yesterday from 1600-1830 hrs at high tide I observed the following birds with my scope at 3 Crabs Restaurant & vicinity near the mouth of the Dungeness River.

Outer coast alongside 3 Crabs parking lot:
3 Caspian Terns
~200 California Gulls
Brackish water pond just east of 3 Crabs:
1 Greater Yellowlegs
15 Semi-palmated Plovers
80 Western Sandpipers
8 Gadwalls
Helen's (horse barn) Pond, east along 3 Crabs Rd.
21 Short-billed Dowitchers (tu-tu-tu calls)*
10 Least Sandpipers
2 Greater Yellowlegs
4 Lesser Yellowlegs
26 Mallards
8 Shovellers

Bruce Moorhead
Port Angeles, WA
bruceb at olypen.com


*An interesting side-note: While watching 6 of the SHDO's preening I observed that they all repeatedly dabbed their bills quickly in and out of the water they were standing in before turning their necks around once again to preen their back feathers, much like a person might repeatedly dab a finger or two on his tongue as he tried to get his (askew) hair to stay down. It would be interesting to know if they do that in saltwater as well as in freshwater, which they were in here at Helen's Pond.