Hi everyone,



Well, I proved once again the maxim that if you're going to chase birds, you should drop everything and go right away.? The Stilt Sandpiper at Llama Lake was reported as present as late as 8:00 pm last night.? Inertia intervened last night and I didn't g o, so I headed out this morning and got there around 8:30 or so.? There were two Solitary Sandpipers (isn't that an oxymoron?) and scads of Killdeer, but none of the four folks present found the Stilt.? Oh, well, such is the pursuit of chasing.



I had a small consolation prize on the way home.? Eagle Lake, by the 9th hole on the TPC Snoqualmie Ridge golf course, periodically draws in a shorebird or two, despite having marginal and small amounts of feeding habitat.? In previous years, I had seen Greater Yellowlegs, Long-billed Dowitcher, a Sora (for two days - quite a surprise), and of course Spotted Sandpipers, which are found (and breed) ?on many of the mitigation ponds in the Snoqualmie Ridge development.? So since there are shorebirds moving through the area, I figured what the heck - I'll stop and check it out.? There were three shorebirds working the visible shoreline right near the tee box [note - this is a private course, so you cannot walk around the lake, but?a public ?sidewalk borders the lake for about half its circumference and is very close to the lake by the tee box].? Two of the three birds, of course, disappeared behind vegetation before I could get an ID and didn't reappear.? One, however, cooperated nicely and proved to be a SOLITARY SANDPIPER.? Not rare or a lifer, but a nice new bird?for my home territory.? Hopefully the other two (which did not appear to be Spotted's) will be around when I go back later for an ID.



I got multiple good pictures, one of which ?can be seen at the following link -



http://www.tubbsphoto.com/-/tubbsphoto/detail.asp?LID=&photoID=10615852&cat=38978





John Tubbs

Snoqualmie, WA

johntubbs at comcast.net