Tweeters,
This morning at around 10:30, I found what I believe to be a CURLEW
SANDPIPER feeding at the edge of the Montlake Fill's main pond. At the
time I met another birder, named Mike (Sorry I forgot your last name!),
and we agreed that it was probably a Dunlin. But upon consulting Sibley,
and Dennis Paulson's "Shorebirds of North America", I've decided that
the bird's field marks are those of an adult Curlew Sandpiper. The upper-
parts were distinctly gray with little or no brown tinge, neither was there
any brown on the breast, which was almost as pale as the very white
belly. Also there was a noticeable white supercilium. The bill was long
and droopy like a Dunlin's. I did not see it fly.
I note that Sibley writes that Curlew Sandpipers "prefer freshwater pools"
(although Paulson does not make this distinction).
Also of note at this same pond was a group of at least ten(!) Hooded
Mergansers, seven of which were adult males, and a couple of Cackling
Geese in a larger group of Canada Geese.

Kit Dieffenbach
Seattle
kitd at comcast.net