I just returned from a wonderful trip to the Seattle area. While there, my wife and I spent a day (7/20) at Nisqually Wildlife refuge, a few hours (7/21) at Discovery Park, and we took the Bremerton Ferry (7/21) from Seattle. Our birding was fun and successful as we recorded the following life birds for us:

1. Glaucous-winged gull - (everywhere)
2. Northwestern crow - (Discovery Park and other locations)
3. Rufous Hummingbird (Disc. Park) We saw many hummingbirds all over the park, but only got a decent look at the Rufous.
4. Bewick's Wren (Discovery Park and NWR)
5. Bushtit (Discovery Park)
6. Western Wood-peewee (NWR)
7. Pelagic Cormorant (ferry dock at Bremerton)
8. Long-billed Dowitcher (ferry dock at Bremerton)

I am writing to ask for comment on the Pelagic Cormorant i.d. Does this seem reasonable? We saw 2 cormorants diving around the ferry boat while at the Bremerton docks. The bird was totally dark, including the bill. We got very good looks at it.

While at the docks at Bremerton, we also saw a bird which I initially i.d.ed as a Belted Kingfisher. We only saw the bird from above as it was flying near the water and we were on the top ferry deck. The bird was very dark from above, had a long dark bill, a white ring around its neck, and white patches on its wings. It flew several times over a 15 minute period along side the boat, usually flying under the dock itself. I later questioned the i.d because the head looked black rather than blue, and I wasn't sure if the kingfisher would be present in this habitat. Any comments?

There was another bird that we saw in several locations at NWR and at Discovery Park. I initially thought it was a Song Sparrow (they were everywhere at NWR), but it seemed slightly bigger, darker around the breast and face, and seemed to be rusty brown on the back. I saw several foraging in the rocks along the river on the eastern side of NWR. I later thought that perhaps the bird was a Fox sparrow. Any comments?

Thanks for any help that you can offer.

Bob Casey
Shoreham, N.Y.
71150.1034 at compuserve.com