Hi folks,

Spent the morning on the water at Edwards Point, just off the Edmonds =
marina. Got to the point at about 8AM. The weather was pretty calm, =
light breeze, a little on the cool side, and partly cloudy. The tide =
was slack when we got there and started to ebb at Edwards Point at about =
10:30. I never have enough time to just bird-watch on these trips, so =
I'm sure I didn't see all there was to see. What I missed was an =
expected Jaeger, but since there weren't a lot of Bonaparte's gulls or =
terns around, I s'pose I'm not surprised. Here's what I saw:

Common Loon - 2 fly-bys
Pacific Loon - 1
Loon spp - 8, 'way out
Western Grebes ~ 20 mostly in one flock about 1/2 mile off the marina; =
a few scattered pair
Red-necked Grebes - 2 at the jetty
Horned Grebe - 2 at the jetty
Rhinoceros Auklets ~ 30 scattered
Common Murres - 48 in two strings drifting south
Great Blue Heron - 2, standing on wrack near jetty
Double-crested Cormorant - 29=20
Brandt's Cormorant - 4 flying by
Pelagic Cormorant - 1 flying by
Common Tern - 4 at mid-channel
Heerman's Gull - 125, mostly at the marina jetty
Glaucous-winged Gull - 325, likewise mostly at the marina jetty/beach at =
the park to the south
about 35% of the glaucous-wings were immatures
"Western" Gull - this one had a pretty dark mantle and dark wing-tips =
like I'd expect to see down on the Oregon coast, in with a flock of =
G-w's
California Gulls ~ 35 in area
Bonaparte's Gulls ~45, mostly north toward the ferry docks
Red-necked Phalaropes - 29=20
Surf Scoters ~ 75
White-winged Scoters ~40
Mallard - 9=20
American Wigeon - 3
Red-breasted Merganser - 6
Belted Kingfisher - 2
Crow - 14 on beach, jetty, oil docks
Rock Dove - 18, at oil docks

I probably forgot to note some others, and certainly didn't bird enough =
to see all the birds that were there. Not having been to the waterfront =
of Edmonds in years, the park and beach just to the south of the marina =
appears to be a good place to bird - especially to sort through the =
hundreds of gulls for some fun exotic.

Also seen: =20
Harbor Seal - 4
California Sea Lion - 1
Dalls Porpoise - 5 (mid-channel toward Kingston)

All-in-all, a nice day to be on the water. And, it didn't begin to rain =
until about 4:30 p.m. when we pulled out at Kingston.

Jon. Anderson
Olympia, Washington
festuca at olywa.net