David,

The Blue-footed Booby specimen in in the UW collection though it probably
was ship assisted in some way. The Yellow Rail was shot by a hunter.
Who knows how many many be out there on those Salicornia flats in the
driving rain. The King Eider was off Lincoln Park, I understand. The
Crested Mynas were very likely escapees from local collectors rather than
vagrants from any established populations. For that reason Mattocks,
Hunn, & Wahl in their 1974 annotated state list (published in _Western
Birds_) removed the myna from the list. To date there has been no
record that is clearly other than an independent escape.

Gene Hunn.

On Wed, 18 Jan 1995, Nunnallee, Dave wrote:

>
> I was reading Larrison's 1952 "Field Guide to Birds of Puget Sound" when I
> noticed several interesting historical records of rarities. They include:
>
> Blue-footed Booby, 9-23-35 - Puget Sound off Everett
> Yellow Rail, 11-16-35 - Mouth of N.F. Skagit River
> King Eider, Oct. 1948 - Seattle
> Crested Mynah - "rare irregular visitor south to Seattle"
>
> These records raise a few questions:
>
> 1. Are these old records considered "confirmed"?
> 2. Was there something peculiar about the year 1935 that both the Booby and
> the Yellow Rail should be seen here?
> 3. I was unaware that the Crested Mynah ever spread this far south from
> Vancouver. How long has it been since it has been seen in Washington?
> Also, with it's precipitous decline in Vancouver, is there any speculation
> how long before it disappears altogether?
>
> Dave Nunnallee
> dnun461 at ecy.wa.gov
> Bellevue, WA
>