Dear Tweeters,

Today, Bob Kuntz led a Skagit Audubon field trip to Whidbey Island. A WANDERING TATTLER gave us very close views at the Keystone Ferry Landing. The bird was first spotted at a small breakwater just in from the long jetty that has all the Heermann's Gulls on it. Then the Tattler wandered inward along the pebbly beach, catching small crabs as it went. We could sit on logs at the edge of the parking lot and study every feather on this bird!

Other shorebirds on Whidbey included the following:

Semipalmated Plover, small numbers at Dugualla Bay, Grasser's Lagoon, and Crockett Lake.

Killdeer: several at Grasser Lagoon, and I think elsewhere.

Whimbrel: 8 at Crockett Lake, flying around and calling.

Greater Yellowlegs, 7 or more between Grasser and Kennedy's Lagoons.

Surfbird: 3 at the above-mentioned Heermann's-Gull-covered Jetty at Keystone.

Spotted Sandpiper, one at that same jetty.

Sanderling, one at Crockett Lake.

Western Sandpiper, a few at Dugualla, hundreds on Crockett Lake.

Least Sandpiper, a handful at Crockett.

Red-necked Phalarope, one at Crockett Lake.

Interstingly, there were no shorebirds at Bos Lake (Swantown Lake). There was no mud there, just a lot of water with a few ducks. Also, we were sort of expecting to find turnstones, but could not turn up a single one.

After the field trip, I made a quick visit to Fort Ebey State Park. At Pondilla Lake there, a Great Horned Owl was acting almost tame. It perched right beside the trail at the shore of the lake.

Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch ? Near Lyman, Washington (Skagit County), USA ? garybletsch at yahoo.com ? ?