UNUSUAL VISITOR FROM EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS – It seems we always get a few unusual birds stopping by during migration season. The black-necked stilt that has been attracting birders to Hayton Reserve on Fir Island this past week is just such a bird. A shorebird that forages in wetlands and along coastlines, both along the California coast and the eastside of the Cascades, its migratory populations typically winter in the most southern parts of the U.S., southern Mexico and along the Baja California peninsula. – Photo by Nancy Crowell