On May 19, 2014, we had a rowdy session at the ABC meeting, starting out with a spirited discussion on oil trains, terminals, and barges proposed for Grays Harbor adjacent to staging areas for a huge proportion of the world’s Western Sandpipers as well as several other species which must have this for their fueling station. Bruce Hoeft has been working on this project and urged us all to send postcards (provided) or letters in the next week to be in time for the public input deadline. Ed Pullen has posted a sample letter on the ABC site along with the address. See it here: http://abcbirding.com/birderspecificlettergraysharborcrudeoilterminals#comment-1152 ********************************************* Next, we all said farewell to Rolan Nelson who has been an integral member of our birding community for 20 years, leading field trips and teaching classes, and just plain fun to bird with. We expect a field trip sometime in the next year to Spokane to see what great birding he’s turned up in his new territory. ****************************************** Spring is busy birding, and we more than filled out our remaining time with trip reports! Presenters included Rolan, Ken Brown, Ryan Wiese, Ed Pullen, Faye McAdams Hands, Laurel Parshall, and Diane Yorgason-Quinn. ************************* Photos: Laurel Parshall laughs with her flock (click to enlarge):