The past two days I have seen?small sandpiper type birds at the marsh and off Sunset Ave.???Monday?(4/23) a small swarm was on the mudflats in the marsh. It was a warm, sunny day and the heat waves rising off the mud made for very poor shots with my?REALLY big honkin' 2.8/400 lens + 2X teleconverter. ?The photos were?so bad that I deleted them all, but I believe the birds were least sandpipers and sanderlings.? Later in the evening I photogrpahed a swarm of sanderlings landing on the beach?below Sunset Ave.
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Tuesday (4/24) was overcast and rainy.??Heat waves were no problem, but light was. I photographed a lone least sandpiper at the marsh and a swarm?of sanderlings flying back and forth?over the Sound just off Sunset Ave.
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I have been asked if the horned grebes are still present.? There are still at least two of them in the area, but they don't stay in one place.? Tuesday I saw them in the marina, between the marina?and the ferry dock, and off Sunset Ave.???? They are very beautiful in full mating plumage. ??
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Bill Anderson; Edmonds, WA. USApipers.