Whether they're resting or feeding, the Black-bellied plovers are usually found at the edge of the water. You can see where their name came from.

The peaceful Plovers didn't mind an invasion by a raucous bunch of Black Turnstones.

Hello to you too! The Turnstones were happy to be back to their winter home at Columbia Beach.

Clean, preen, relax was the schedule for the rest of the day.

Just stretching and showing off the wings.

July 19/05 - I had to deliver books to the Campbell River Museum so I planned my annual 3-Toed trek to Mt. Washington for the same day. It was kind of Terry Yarosh of Qualicum to volunteer to keep me company. On the way I almost nailed a grouse flying across the highway. I'm glad I missed. Grouse is on my photo wish list, but I wasn't that desperate. I made a quick stop at the Kingfisher Resort to see if I could catch the gift shop manager. On my 2 previous tries, she was on her day off and she had already gone home. Today she was on holidays. Some things just weren't meant to be. After delivering the books to the Museum at Campbell River, it was 3-Toed time. As usual, the alpine marshes, meadows, and lakes were beautiful. We had quick glances at about 5 woodies but not enough to identify any of them. I decided to check out the first 100 m of the Kwai Lake trail for a Hermit Thrush. It was a good decision. We saw 2 juveniles and I adult. At the eastern end of Battleship Lake we stopped to call the Gray Jays. I managed a few pictures before we were invaded by a large family of tourists. On the boardwalk near the parking lot, we stopped to rest and to let a very spry gentleman pass us. He stopped to admire my camera and asked if we knew a very good bird photographer named Mike Yip. Of course, we denied knowing the amateur, but couldn't keep our faces straight for too long. It was a pleasure to meet our intrepid hummingbird bander and author, Cam Finlay. I didn't find the 3-Toed, but the scenery, exercise, company, and Hermit Thrush made it a good day. When I got home, one of my emails was from Peter and Marion Coxon of Australia. They were enjoying my book that I mailed on Jul. 14. It only took 4 business days to get there instead of the advertised 9. Kudos to Canada Post.

Always on time . You could bet the Gray Jays would be inviting themselves to lunch.

The Hermit Thrush seems even more reclusive than the Varied Thrush. We were lucky to find a curious juvenile.

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