Hey tweets, where were you this afternoon? I kept waiting for
birders-with-scopes to show up and help me ID some shorebirds, but bupkas.
Here's what I found: nothing on the main pond except ducks (including 7
female and/or juvenile hooded mergansers - as opposed to 7 bright males/4
females yesterday) and a great blue heron and a regular conveyor belt of
UW athletes jogging around and around the trail. But it was a different
story when I got out to the point. It began with some pretty hefty peeping
of something flying around - turned out to be a long-billed dowitcher
being chased by a peregrine. The peregrine got within a few inches of the
dowitcher but couldn't quite catch it. Eventually the falcon flew over my
head and away to the stadium. As I was trying to stop my head from
swimming on account of the excitement, I noticed *another* shorebird on
the mud bar several yards offshore. It had been crouching down in a
depression during the peregrine's hunt. But as soon as the peregrine was
gone, it got up and began picking away at the mud. That's when I wished
for another birder with a scope because this sandpiper looked unusual.
Definitely not a dunlin (bill did not curve down and was too short; plus
the bird was not probing). Not a curlew sandpiper (no white rump). It had
relatively short legs, a medium-short bill (not semipalmated) that was not
down-curved - in fact, slightly upcurved if anything. Its body shape was
different: the center of gravity was more directly over the legs) and it
sometimes cocked its tail up in a perky sort of way. Maybe it was nothing
more exotic than a least, but it didn't quite jizz that way. I wish the
light had been better, but the sun was already almost set by the time I
found this bird. I think it bears looking into tomorrow morning. I'll try
to get down there with a scope myself, but the more eyes, the better. -
Connie, Seattle

csidles at isomedia.com