>There has been a steady week of reports of Leach's storm petrels (LESP) in
>central - south Puget Sound since the 12Dec95 storm, especially off Pierce
>County and from the Vashion Island ferry, posted on the WA BirdBox, with
>10-12 reported off Tacoma on a CBC there. Hmmm...curious. Why there and
>nowhere else in Washington's inland marine waters? Fork-tailed storm petrels
>(FTSP) would seem far more likely at any time of year and so far the only
>species I've ever seen in nearshore and inland waters.

Actually, there are other Leach's records from protected Washington waters
in winter; this species seems as likely as Fork-tailed to turn up in
someone's back yard well away from the coast after a storm. Perhaps the
concentration in the south sound is because they are actually blown up the
Chehalis River Valley. Alternatively, they could fly toward the south
after having been blown in the Straits of Juan de Fuca.

Dennis Paulson, Director phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416