Subject: [Tweeters] re: Hidden O.S. Shorebirds
Date: Aug 30 21:45:17 2009
From: Dianna Moore - dlmoor2 at coastaccess.com


This is an oft-asked question...and one you have every right to ask in
frustration. I often volunteer to take folks around the peninsula to show
off our birding hotspots...only to strike out myself.

The easy answer is they are spread out over the whole harbor. This year has
been particularly frustrating due to a lot more people visiting our beaches;
this has been the busiest summer I have seen, and the beaches are
wall-to-wall with people, vehicles, dogs and horses. The few visits I have
made to the outer beaches I have watched in despair as dogs and children
chase flocks of shorebirds up and down the sand, and SUVs laden with
tire-biters and mouth-breathers try to run down the huge flocks of gulls
resting on the sand.

I have chosen instead to retreat more often to the area between Damon Point
and the Oyehut Game Range. There I see a few flocks of shorebirds wheeling
around the beaches out there and on the inner pond area of the game range. I
can also see birds off Bill's Spit. It's also easier to see the birds as
they settle down for the night, somewhere along the outer beaches between
Driftwood Ave and Beach St is a good choice...fewer people.

Good Luck!
Dianna Moore
Ocean Shores, Wa.
Dlmoor2 at coastaccess.com