After a week break did my jetty count today. A couple of interesting notes
first before I tally the results. The tide was very riled up as it was
very rough and very brown. The alcid numbers went down, Murre numbers were
almost absent. Another interesting sighting were 28 Blue-winged Teal
flying very high and very fast, possibly in migration.

Off the end of the jetty 2 alcids flew by and I only got a brief glimpse
before a wave broke in front of them and they were lost from view. The
view I got was of nothing I familar with so I'm hoping somebody has
suggestions.
The birds were murrelet sized, pointed beak, very dark on the back with no
other markings. The color of their back would be similar to the color of
dark chocolate. On their underside the color was almost snow white and it
extended to the gape line of their bill. I could not see if there were any
eye line or rings. The bill was completely black. Any suggestions?

Pt. Brown Jetty Watch, Ocean Shores WA:8/16/97
1/2 Distance from end
Start Time: 10:20 AM
Weather: Clear and Bright, ~65 degrees, incoming tide with very riled
surf. High Tide was at 12:15 and was a above normal high tide.
Equipment used:Swift Binocs 10 x 42, Kowa TSN-4 20-60x

Species: Flyby Ocean Rocks Beach Total
Red-throated Loon 1 1
Pacific Loon 1 3 4
Sooty Shearwater 711 1 712
Brown Pelican 61 61
Double-crested Cormorant 6 6
Brandts Cormorant 2 2
Pelagic Cormorant 33 33
Blue-winged Teal 28 28
Surf Scoter 100 1 101
White-winged Scoter 9 1 10
Wandering Tattler 12 12
Ruddy Turnstone 4 4
Black Turnstone 9 9
Surfbird 23 23
Red-necked Phalarope 1 1
Parasitic Jaeger 2 2
Heermann's Gull 377 2 379
California Gull 60 1 61
Glacous-winged Gull 2 2
GW x W Gull 12 1 13
Gull Sp. 50 50
Caspian Tern 1 1
Common Murre 18 18
Pigeon Guillemont 12 12
Cassins Auklet 2 2
Rhinocerous Auklet 86 86

Totals: 1597 9 25 2 1683


Scott Downes
sdownes at u.washington.edu
Seattle WA