December and January brought a few more waterbirds to the East Bay of
Budd Inlet, returning total counts and richness closer to average levels for
the past three winters. Counts entered the 40s and went as high as 64 on 31
January on this 35-acre urban embayment. (The tallies include grebes,
cormorants, geese, and ducks; other species aren't necessarily censused.)
This year's near-complete lack of scoters accounts for lower-than-normal
counts and slightly low species richness. During January's nine surveys, for
example, I saw a single Surf Scoter twice and a single White-wing twice,
when typically they are regular. Black Scoters are having an almost normal
year, with two to five present on several dates.
The Willet wintering in Olympia continued to show up in the bay on
occasion, roosting on a piling at some high tides and foraging on mud and
gravel when water receded. The cold blast at the end of January brought
three female Green-winged Teal to the bay's protected waters, just the fifth
date this species has appeared during four winters of surveys. One
Black-bellied Plover also visited on a bitingly-cold morning, the first time
I've seen one during a survey (they're regularly seen or heard at low tides
during "Autumn" migration.

One of the assisting waterbird monitors had just finished her tally when
she watched an adult Bald Eagle swoop down and terrorize a female Bufflehead
for tens of meters before giving up the chase.

Last week a signboard went up on a 7-acre lot that borders the bay. It
was a Notice of Application for a Shoreline Management Substantial
Development and Conditional Use Permit. The Port of Olympia plans to build a
boatworks on the site. Their blueprints reveal more development on the
already-abused waterfront. The docks associated with haulout will cover a
substantial area of this East Bay study area. Time will tell what effects
the boat repair facility will have on the ability of East Bay visitors to
view with ease a diverse wintering waterbird community.
------------------------
Scott Richardson
NE Seattle
salix at isomedia.com