I camped at Lake Roosevelt this weekend with a group from my school.
We stayed at the Locust Grove Group Camp near Kettle Falls. This
morning I found a few birds around including 2 BAIRD'S SANDPIPERS and 1
GREATER YELLOWLEGS on bits of mud just south towards Colville Flats.
There was a little migration going on in the Locust trees including a
WILSON'S WARBLER, YELLOW-RUMPEDs, and a VESPER SPARROW. But the best
birds came later in the morning when we were out on the main beach
doing group activities by the water. We flushed 2 juvenile SANDERLING
which then gave nice close looks. A few minutes later 3 more
Sanderlings flew in, and then ANOTHER group of 4 (!) more Sanderling
and 1 Baird's. I didn't even have binoculars, but these cooperative
little guys let me get to less than 12 feet with my wide-angle lens.
I've posted one photo of the middle group of 3 here:



http://www.flickr.com/photos/nightjar/2834735495/



So that's a total of 9 SANDERLING. I can't help but wonder if this
kind of thing is regular but goes undetected on this part of the
Columbia.



Cheers,

Michael Woodruff

Spokane, WA
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