Tweeters,
I went to the coast today looking for Kittiwake and Snowy Plovers. I
started at the jetty at Westport planning to hike to the end, but after a
tiring 45 miutes of hiking/slipping I decided I was close enough. I had no
luck finding Kittiwakes but I did find a nice group of rockpipers in this
area. The group had about 20 SURFBIRDS, 4 ROCK SANDPIPERS and a few BLACK
TURNSTONES. As usual, they were very tolerant of photography so I got some
nice pictures. Other good birds on the jetty were HARLEQUIN DUCKS, COMMON
MURRE, all three SCOTERS and all three CORMORANTS.

I entered the Midway Beach area from the Cranberry Road entrance right on
the county line and headed south. After only a few minutes I spotted a
SNOWY PLOVER scurrying beside the car. I stopped to take photos from the
car without too much luck, but I got some recognizable ones. As I was
preparing to drive off I glanced out the passenger window and was suprised
to see another dozen plovers staring at me from only 20 feet away. The sun
was coming out intermittently, so I worked on photos for a few more mintues
and got some pretty good ones. Little colored plastic bracelets were all the
rage among the younger plovers. And they all really liked hiding in the
tracks left by the cars.

I've added some pictures to my picasa site:
http://picasaweb.google.com/102009338713990315115/PicturesForSharing#

Randy Bjorklund
Federal Way, WA