I travelled from tillamook bay to the south jetty yesterday saturday. The
birds are in.
The shorebird flats had ~100 flighty western sandpipers moving around in
flo ks of 10-20. One lonely semi. Plover & 1 gr yellowlegs. The marsh at
cape meares village had mudflats & 10 least sandpipers. This seems to be
the extent of the 'drainage'. No mudflats in the main lake &it doesn't
seem possible to drain further without pumping or some pipe other than the
one at the base of the dike road which is high and dry. Bummer.
The beach from gearhart north had a few western sandpipers and a heermans
gull in 40+ mph sustained wind. The shorebird flats at SJCR had 1000+
western sandpipers milling around at high tide in the high wind. The
columbia between parking lots c & d had 500+ brown pelicans feeding madly
on smelt(?) Oblivious to the wind. They were attended by ~50-100 heermans
gulls. Quite a few common murres got into the frenzy as well. The western
sandpipers were moving out, south, into the wind in flocks of 10 - 100 as
the day and the tide waned.....
Bob obrien. Carver or
