An interesting eBird feature is their bird alert service, which is kind of like a bird-geiger counter. Assuming you entered your sightings into the app, you can sign up for hourly or daily alerts for species that other birders see but you lack. I signed up for hourly alerts for Thurston County, home of Olympia. As many of you know, despite this onslaught of species I need for my county bird list, Erika and I are not much for burning fossil fuel for chasing birds. We did, however, make four unsuccessful attempts to find a Red-necked Phalarope in a small puddle two miles from our house. Nothing is guaranteed in this birding business.
On 5 August, the pond did yeild a small mixed flock of Least and Western Sandpipers. The Least is recognized by its yellow-green legs and small bill. The Western Sandpiper has black legs, a longer and slightly down-curved bill, and lovely chestnut-chevroned shoulder feathers. We saw no phalaropes, but the Western Sandpiper was new for my county list.
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