Sequim Shorebirds
So a Ruff, which is a eurasian shorebird that’s not supposed to be in North America, showed up in a wetlands near Sequim, I decided to chase it (because it’s mid-summer and there’s little of interest to bird right now overall). I showed up on day 3, and of course, the Ruff only stuck around for two days.
Such are the joys and challenges of birding.
It’s been a really weird year for Ruffs, by the way. It’s a well known vagrant and there are usually a few scattered around North America every year, but this year they have been found in about 40 locations since spring. That is a huge number of birds (even assuming fewer Individuals wandering across multiple locations) than normal, and nobody knows why.
That is also the joy and challenge of birding.
So, no Ruff for me (although I was able to see one, years ago, down in Alviso where it wintered one year). But there were some other shorebirds, and it’s never a bad idea to take photos and work to update and improve your library of all the species… In this case, a few Greater Yellowlegs, some Long-billed Dowitchers, and a couple of Least Sandpipers.
