I forgot to mention how many there were. There were nine. I suspect that they had been near the south end of the bay earlier. Ledbetter may be a place to look for them tomorrow.




> On May 30, 2023, at 8:03 PM, Jeff Gilligan <jeffgilligan10 at gmail.com> wrote:

>

> I was just surprised to look at the little remaining mud/gravel islands off my yard on the Long Beach Peninsula to see a flock of apparently first summer Bar-tailed Godwits. i saw them when I was putting something in my car. I got my car binoculars on them, and after looking at them for a few minutes went toward the house for a camera, but they lifted off and flew low along the bay to the north. Some were partially red below, but most were without red. Several small mud/gravel islands form on the changing tide at my little bight, which often attracts shorebirds.

>

> The last shorebird other than Killdeer that I had seen from the yard was a Greater Yellowlegs on May 23.

>

> I am very familiar with Bar-tailed Godwits from Oregon, Washington (Tokeland and Illwaco), Alaska, Asia and Australia.

>

> I do not remember the year, but the late Harry Nehls once found an even a larger flock of Bar-tailed Godwits near the parking lot at Ledbetter State Park in early June.

>

>

> Jeff Gilligan

>

>