Request for volunteers from Marian Bailey and Cyndie Sundstrom for shorebrid survey. It would be very helpful to be able to identify Least Sandpiper, Western Sandpiper, Dowitchers, Greater Yellowlegs, Killdeer, and Black-bellied Plover. Let them know if you are insterested? Shep Volunteers Shep, I’ve revised the info here and added a number of different things including instructions on contacting Cyndie. So PLEASE SEND THIS OUT TO THE BIRDERS, not the original one you got. Marian Bailey *Marian M. Bailey / Refuge Wildlife Biologist / Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge Complex / **Olympia, WA / (360) 753-9467 <%28360%29%20753-9467> / marian_bailey@fws.gov <marian_bailey@fws.gov>* Greetings, It’s that time of year again (2nd season) where I put out a mass-mailer asking for volunteers for the *Grays Harbor Winter Shorebird Survey *(also known as the Pacific Flyway Shorebird Survey – PFSS). Please see this website for more information about this project if you are not familiar with it: http://data.prbo.org/apps/pfss/ and http://data.prbo.org/apps/pfss/index.php?page=volunteer. Some of you volunteered last year and you did a wonderful job despite the weather conditions, last minute scrambling, and obvious confusion early on. We are hoping to fix and avoid many of the ‘blunders’ that were obvious and those that weren’t so obvious last year, after all it was the pilot year and there were lots of ‘kinks’ to work out. There have been a few modifications to the effort this season. In the works is an internet training site and an in-person training day can be put together for those who have not done this before or those who want a refresher, but there will not be a whole day training effort for you to commit to attend. Also we don’t think you need to visit your site in a special trip; we suggest you get there early to become familiar with it before the survey start time. We have worked on the timing of the tides situation in the South Bay vs. North Bay regions a bit. During last year’s survey we had several days of pouring rain prior to the survey. The weather conditions on the day of the survey were within protocol but what we didn’t expect was the nearly 2.0 foot higher difference in the predicted tide height and the actual tide height!!! That caused many of the sites to be at full-capacity when surveyors arrived at their locations and there was no exposed mudflats for which to count birds. Although I have some of your contact information, we are asking that you fill out a “Survey Monkey Questionnaire”. There are some changes to this questionnaire since last year. You will see that there are 3 options for survey locations (Columbia River, Willapa Bay, Grays Harbor). Point Blue (formerly Point Reyes Bird Observatory as some of you might recall) is wishing to extend their survey efforts throughout these locations in Southwest Washington. Once you have completed the survey questionnaire and if you have selected GRAYS HARBOR (you can select all 3 if you wish), I will be your contact (Lead Coordinator) for Grays Harbor only. Please do not contact Point Blue for specific site information for these locations; the Columbia River and Willapa Bay areas have their own Lead Coordinators and they will contact you. At this time, based on daylight hours and tidal conditions, the following tentative dates have been selected for a one (1) day survey (remember, only *one* of these days will be the actual survey day and volunteers will be notified of that date a few days ahead of time…..because we can’t predict the weather and the survey is protocol weather dependent): November 21, 22, 23, November 24, December 7, OR December 8 are the potential dates. If there is a greater response for a weekday availability (dates have not yet been determined based on daylight and tidal conditions) and the weather conditions are favorable, the survey may happen on a weekday! Finally, I encourage you to forward this email to anyone you might know who would be interested. A) Please take a few moments to fill out the ‘Survey Monkey Questionnaire’ . The survey monkey can be found at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SWWA13. B) Please EMAIL or CALL me (Cyndie Sundstrum contact info is below) with the dates you COULD do the survey. Please do this ASAP as we are trying to set a date-which is in part based on how many volunteers we can get. C) Also call or email if you are car pooling (as that will determine the sites assignments for you and your pooling mates). Feel free to contact me with any questions you might have. I hope to have the answers for you! Cyndie Sundstrom Lead Coordinator Grays Harbor Winter Shorebird Survey snowyplover@comcast.net 360-581-6750