Fellow birders,

Just on the off chance anyone is interested in something besides the Booby ;)
On a lark I joined Ed Deal's Seattle Audubon Society trip on Saturday (well,
actually, I was invited). We started off at 6 AM at the Ravenna Park and Ride
and caught the 7-something Edmonds to Kingston ferry. Not very light, windy
and chilly, no jeagers or petrels as far as we could tell.
We visited Foulweather Bluff; Pileated Woodpecker and a very dark immature
Heermann's Gull were highlights.
Point No Point offered a variety of sea-ducks, Black, White-winged and Surf
Scoters. Harlequin Ducks. Both Common and Pacific Loons, Double-crested and
Pelagic Cormorants. More Heermann's Gulls.
Salsbury Point County Park (east end Hood Canal Bridge) was not too exciting.
A lot of chop: Common Murre, Rhinocerous Auklet, more loons etc.
Point Wilson Light (at Fort Worden State Park -near Port Townsend) gave us
more of same, plus excellent looks at two Common Terns, grebes (Eared,
Red-necked, Western) and some excitement in the form of an immature
light-phase Parasitic Jeager doing a fly-by (id. by consensus). During lulls
in activity one could always study the two female and one male Harlequins
foraging 50 yards offshore.
We caught the 1:15 Port Townsend to Keystone ferry. At the very end another
jeager flew by. This time consensus among the more cautious members was Jeager
species." The more excitable (pre-teenage) members of the group wanted to jot
it down as a Pomarine Jeager. I belong to the more cautious group (I must be
getting old). Alcids during the crossing contained more Rhinocerous Auklet,
Common Murre, Pigeon Guillemot. More loons and grebes.
Next stop Crockett Lake (near Fort Casey).
Tons of waterfowl on the safe haven lake (no hunting allowed). American
Wigeons, Mallard, Gadwall, American Coot, Northern Pintail, Ruddy Duck,
American Green-winged Teal, Bufflehead, all three scoters in the small ponds
next to the road, Northern Harrier, Red-tailed Hawk, Pied-billed Grebe. Then
one group member found a raptor kiting up above us. It just didn't quite fit
the expected shapes. All that remained after ruling out misfits were either
Gyrfalcon or Northern Goshawk. When the bird went into a shallow dive and
spotted all the waterfowl on the lake (north end) and started harassing them,
there was no doubt. Brown phase Gyrfalcon. Wow, what a sight! And unexpected
(yes, Michael, I hear you, probably normal this "early" ;) ) The bird briefly
landed on a post across the water, was harassed by a Northern Harrier and took
for the trees, disappearing from view. A lifer for several group members.
Hastie Lake Road, didn't provide anything new.
The ponds near Swantown provided the first selection of shorebirds other than
the occasional Sanderling, including: Pacific Golden-Plover (long discussion
and consulting Dennis Paulson's book), Black Bellied Plover, Black and Ruddy
Turnstone. Two Eared Grebes rounded out the grebes (now we'd seen all five
species).
At Joseph Whidbey State Park, a very nice looking Rough-legged Hawk in a
nearby power pole was an unexpected bonus.
The remainder of the drive home didn't provide much excitement. A quick stop
at the Jensen Access on Fir Island provided Snow Geese. One single individual
taunting the hunters in the field all other waterfowl almost a mile out on the
bay (smart birds). A Northern Shrike livened up the "No Trespassing" signs.
The last stop, at failing daylight, was, by popular demand, the Black-crowned
Night Heron tree outside Conway.
All in all a very successful day.

Martin Muller
Seattle, WA
MartinMuller at msn.com