Arctic Terns were present 6 July on the west shores of Jetty Island. The
free (and frequent) ferry service that gives access to this island began on
the 4 July, so it's now easy to hike and bird the entire island.

At low tide, there is a broad area of sand on the west side of the island.
Hundreds of Caspian Terns were roosting here, plus 2 Arctics. One was an
adult, 1 was in juvenal-plumage. Both were clearly seen. The adult was
readily identified. The juvenile was a bit of a challenge, but I separated
it from a juvenal-plumaged Common Tern by the shining white secondaries as
it took flight to follow (Mama or Papa?) west out into Puget Sound.

The apparent fledging of an Arctic Tern here seemed early. The earliest
documented fledging in BC to the north is 16 July (Campbell et al. Birds of
BC).

The breeding of Arctic Terns at Everett (the southernmost known on the west
coast of North America), was documented nearly 20 years ago (Manuwal, D.A.,
P.W. Mattocks, and K.O. Richter. 1979. First Arctic Tern colony in the
contiguous western United States. American Birds. 33:144-145).

Shorebirds were an attraction in the area of mudflats on the west side of
Jetty Island as the tide was coming in:

Semipalmated Plover-1
Western Sandpiper-500+
Semipalmated Sandpiper-1+
Short-billed Dowitcher-8

I was really surprised by the number (15+) of agitated Spotted Sandpipers,
calling from the island's uplands. The upland habitat here is characterized
by beach grasses, logs and some sandy areas. Is this a typical breeding
habitat for Spotted Sandpipers, especially adjacent to salt water?

Frequent checks of this area of mudflats through the fall season might well
prove exciting, especially for migrating shorebirds. Access is so easy to
this neat site. Somebody outta check it out daily!

Of course, Ospreys were everywhere, as many Tweets have commented on.

Andy Stepniewski
Wapato, WA