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jordan lake walk



Hello Carolinabirders:
I am back from my two week birdathon in the Pacific Northwest where I took
a pelagic from Westport Washington, and hiked around the Cascades in both
British Columbia and Washington State. THe highlights were the incredible
alcid show at Cape Flattery (Norhtwwesternmost corner of US), Shorebirds
at my feet at the Iona Island Sewage Ponds at Vancouver, the incredible
Rock Creek Canyon where the MOST abundant species was the Lewis'
Woodpecker (my totem bird), with at least one per frame of vision (no
exaggerations), and lastly, a N Pygmy Owl on a dirt road inOlympic
national Park. It sat puckishly and stared us down before flying off
downhill, and then, as if to complete our education, we heard a
conversation between two pygmy owls from opposite sides of the road. It
was marvellous, especially since I netted 16 life birds and am now knockin
at the door of 500 for my ABA life list (496 to be precise).

BUt more to the point, today i decided to brave this obscene heat and walk
out onto the drying jordan lake, and the walk produced three wilson's
phalaropes as well as one forlorn black tern in near-winter plumage. There
were lots of pectorals, killdeer and yellowlegs around, though not stilts
as far as I could see; but once I had got my phalaropes (a state bird) I
hightailed it out of the hellish flats, so no numbers. A few days ago I
had gone out in the evening and seen lots of dowitchers and 7 stilt
sandpipers, and one semipalmated plover in the shallows closest to the
'nude' beach, but no such luck today. The birds toaday seemed to be much
more spread out. THey also seem to allow a fairly close approach, I got as
far as the mud would permit me and the peeps were not too concerned. Watch
out for the grass,though, I had shorts on and it really itches your legs.
Shantanu Phukan

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SHANTANU PHUKAN
Lecturer in Urdu-Hindi & Indian Literature
University of N. Carolina, Chapel Hill
Curriculum in Asian Studies
Alumni Hall 413C
Chapel Hill, N.C. 27599

phukan@email.unc.edu
919-962-6825
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