Chuck Tague

    As the tide receded and the sun set, forty Black Skimmers jockeyed for position on the growing sandbar.  An equal number of Marbled Godwits stood among them, each balanced on one leg.  Although their beaks were tucked under their wings, their uncovered eyes nervously scanned the sky.  A Brown Pelican cruised in and joined three others on the fringe.  A Willet casually wandered through the crowd like a ballpark huckster.

     Five weary birders watched from a fishing pier thirty yards to the north, content to be part of the evening wind-down.  None could explain the sudden, explosive panic.