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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Tweeters,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Today, I tried to bird Whatcom County despite rapidly changing weather. The morning was largely a washout due to steady but not heavy rain. However, by 2 PM, the rain stopped, the ceiling lifted, the water was flat, and visibility became very good.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>At about 4 PM, I was driving down Lummi Shore Road on the west side of Bellingham Bay, on my way to Portage Point, an eBird hotspot. At this point, there are several low sandbars offshore which are above water most of the time. I got a big surprise when I found 4 AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS near the end of one of the sandbars. This is a rare bird in Whatcom County; they were probably stragglers from the pelican flock that has summered on and near Whidbey Island for the last 5 years or so. There were large numbers of other birds on the sandbar, including 145 CASPIAN TERNS, 60 DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS, and numerous gulls, scoters, etc.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>In winter, this area usually has hundreds of Brant, scoters, etc. It is always worth a quick stop if you are driving by.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>A short time earlier, I had good birding near the Marine Drive bridge over the Nooksack River near its mouth. There were oodles of song birds including a BULLOCK’S ORIOLE, 9 YELLOW WARBLERS, a VAUX’S SWIFT, 5 BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAKS, etc.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>By way of an anticlimax, when I left Portage Point at about 5 PM, I ended up driving through one of the most torrential rainstorms I have ever seen in BC or Washington, which lasted at least 45 minutes. My timing was fortuitous. If I had been on Lummi Shore Road 90 minutes later, I wouldn’t have been able to see the sandbar, let alone the pelicans!<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Good luck and good birding,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Wayne Weber<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Delta, BC<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="mailto:contopus@telus.net">contopus@telus.net</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>