Yesterday, Tuesday, August 5, at about 7:45 pm, on Midway Beach (south of
Grayland), Fred Erickson and I watched an adult SNOWY PLOVER for about five
minutes. We had walked on the "road" through soft sand that leads out to
the sand dampened and hardened by surf. (The road has sign posts along both
sides that warn against walking past the signs onto protected nesting
grounds.) As we stood at the edge of the surf watching the flyby (sooty
shearwaters[?] and brown pelicans), we happened to turn around and see the
snowy plover running about where the dry and wet sand meet, in spite of a
mature bald eagle perched nearby on a washed up tree trunk.

Today, Wednesday, August 6, at about 11 am, at Damon Point (Ocean Shores),
we say two juvenile or non-breeding plumage ELEGANT TERNS. We had walked
from the picnic area by the restroom toward the water at fairly low tide on
the north side of Damon Point. (The marina was on our left.) About 15 brown
pelicans were standing at water's edge while two groups of Caspian terns,
about 30 total, were congregated near the water to both sides of the
pelicans. (We had observed a larger group of Caspian terns the day before in
the same area without seeing any elegant terns.) The two terns that we saw
were together at water's edge somewhat apart from the Caspian terns, had
shaggy crests with white crowding into the front of the black patch on their
foreheads, noticeably thinner and lighter colored bills than the Caspian
terns, and when they flew due to nearby children, their wings had a slight
duskiness to them shadowing their otherwise white plumage. Both on land and
in the air, they were clearly smaller than the Caspian terns around them.
However, what first caught my eye and differentiated them from the Caspian
terns was the larger white area on the foreheads.

The two finally flew off to the north with a third tern that appeared to be
the same size. This third bird we had looked at first because it had
a higher and less grating call than the harsh cries of the Caspian terns.
Its wings did not have the darker shading and it had a full black cap. If it
was an elegant tern, we thought that it must be an adult in breeding
plumage.

Thank you for those who kept us informed of previous sightings. Without your
postings, we would probably have ventured in another direction. We are
especially grateful for Ruth Sullivan's pictures of elegant terns, which
helped inspire us and let us know what diversity we might expect to see
among the elegant terns.