Shorebirds - where are you?

As I posted previously, our annual Shorebird festival is this weekend. I was out there this morning (excellent spring weather!) to do a bit of birdwatching. Usually, it's very quite and at most see just one or two other people. Today...there was not even any parking!

It's about a mile or so out to the platforms from the parking area. It was a warm and beautiful morning right at high tide (important to see the shorebirds in concentrations). As we got further out, I kept saying..."where are the birds?".

Apparently the counts are quite a bit lower this year. Don't know why. I for one am hoping they are just getting a late start in migrating.