May 11--BAR-TAILED GODWIT near Port McNeill

Peter Curtis photographed this Bar-tailed Godwit (right) on the Cluxewe Estuary (NW of Port McNeill) on May 11th. It was in the company of a Long-billed Curlew (also a rare bird for the upper island, particularly this late in the season). Juvenile 'Barwits' are nearly annual in fall on the BC coast but spring birds are few and far between!