Day 217: While this was not a Life List sighting for me, the only other place I have ever observed Spotted Sandpipers was at Mystic Lake, elevation 5000' in the northwest corner of Mount Rainier National Park, and that would have been at least thirty years ago. I found two today at the north end of Lake Mackintosh (Thurston County, WA). Their behaviour indicated that they might have been a nesting pair.
Sibley refers to this species as "uncommon but widespread," and shows the Cascade crest (approximately) at the junction of the year-'round range and the migratory route. Lake Mackintosh is only a few hundred feet above sea level and well west of the crest, so if this was indeed a nesting pair, this sighting is interesting from the standpoint of the species' phenology.
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