I was poking around the Skagit flats at mid-day today. I wanted to see Scott and Jordan's waterthrush because the bubble-gum pink legs in Scott's photo were suggestive of Louisiana Waterthrush. I had completely forgotten that heavy equipment is working on the dike trail at Wildy Slough this week so it is closed until Saturday. I wandered over to Jensen access where I saw Jeff Bryant, full of excitement because he had two views of the Spotted Redshank between 12:30 and 1 pm. There is a large downed tree that is completely surrounded with water at high tide. The redshank landed on it while the sun was still behind him, so he could see the red legs and red on the mandible. I'm sure he will provide further information when he gets home. I stayed there until about 3:30 pm and saw nothing but thousands of Dunlin with some Black-bellied Plovers and a few Greater Yellowlegs. Jeff said the redshank flew off to the northwest. If anyone goes looking for it tomorrow, stick with the high tide, around the time Jeff saw the bird or a little later.

Carol Riddell
Edmonds, Wa