Hi Tweets,

My girlfriend, who just started birding this year, and I spent the
afternoon in Westport on Sunday foraging for sand dollars and birding.

We ran around in the surf like Sanderlings for 75 minutes on the oceanside
beach and collected 200 intact, hole-free sand dollars.

>From 5-6PM, we watched and photographed birds from the boardwalk at the
Westport marina.

We counted at least *30 Fork-tailed Storm Petrels* throughout the harbor,
and there could easily be more. Some came within 50 feet of the boardwalk.

A breeding plumage (95% molted) male *Red Phalarope* put on a show at the
end of the boardwalk, swimming and feeding within 20 feet of us.

Gorgeous breeding plumage Common and Pacific Loons and Double-crested
Cormorants were present in and around the harbor, providing fantastic photo
opportunities.

My girlfriend's first tubenose was a Fork-tailed Storm Petrel, from land.
Her first phalarope was a Red Phalarope, in breeding plumage. SHE IS
NAILING IT!

What a day!!

Nathaniel Peters
University of Washington
ncpeters at uw.edu