Hi Tweets,



Went to the shorebird festival at Gray's Harbor yesterday (Sunday, May 8),
but unfortunately there were very few shorebirds (I was there about an hour
and a half before high tide and there was a lot of exposed mudflat).



Next, drove over to the sewage ponds, where there was a nice selection of
ducks (Lesser and Greater Scaup, Northern Pintail, Blue-winged Teal, a male
and female Redhead). We next drove behind the sewage ponds, between the
ponds and the retaining wall. There, in the gravel, were over 1,000
shorebirds, mainly Western Sandpipers, Semipalmated Plovers, with a few
Dunlin, in the gravel between the road and the pond. Some were foraging
around the piles of driftwood, but mostly they were sleeping in little
clusters. The gravel was warm from the sunlight, and I wondered if they
were simply exhausted from migrating and found this warm, protected place to
recover.



Also had good numbers of shorebirds at the beach at Ocean Shores, mainly
Semipalmated Plover, Western Sandpiper, Sanderling, Dunlin and Marbled
Godwit. Also had 17 Rednot on the beach just a bit south of Chance a la
Mer.



Megan Lyden

Bellevue, WA