Hello Tweeters community,


I had the pleasure of taking two trips of short duration to Midway ponds and Tokeland on the past Friday and Sunday.


Friday: A brilliant day. No fog, no wind. Brilliant light. The birds looked different and slightly confused in the very bright light. Every nuance of a bird's coloration could easily be seen. It reminded me of last Winter, after the snow in Western Washington, when several people on Tweeters were reporting unusual feather colors of several species. I concluded that we were not used to brilliant light that showed coloration at its most vivid saturation. I am used to viewing and photographing birds in low to high overcast or fog (e.g., typical of our Western Washington weather and light and as a Native Washingtonian, an accepted part of the deal)



Snowy Plovers (14) A large group found me at the ponds (North was semi-wet mud). Juveniles & Adults; at least seven had different combinations of colored leg bands, two per leg with differing location of bands on legs. One adult had a silver metal band. Does anyone have a key for where the banding was done? I videoed all, but did not photograph.
That was a beautiful experience.
Pectoral Sandpipers (5)
Long-billed Dowitchers (4J)
Ring-necked Pheasant (1M) strutted up the road in view for an unusually long time.
Least SP (1A)
Western SP (3J)


Sunday: Usual Fog. Midway ponds had substantially diminished in size and will likely disappear within days.

American Golden-Plover (2J) (20 minutes- close range, video, feeding)- Great birds.
Pacific Golden-Plover (1J) ( 20 minutes- close range, video, feeding, calling)- A beauty!
Baird's SP(4)
Western SP(1J)
Northern Harrier (1F) Flushed above , then landed in front of me. Beautiful coloration at close range.


Tokeland-
Marbled Godwits (you count 'em) A guy flushed them, with dog just before filming! Bar-tailed away!
Willets (7)
Black-bellied Plover (1J)
Gulls (the usual suspects)
Parasitic Jaeger (1)
Common Tern (1)
Caspian Tern (3)




I really enjoyed these experiences.


Dan Reiff
Mercer Island