Tweeters,

Had an opportunity to cover much of Budd Inlet by boat on Saturday. Here's much
of what I saw:

Common Loon <10; pairs and singles; basic plumage
Western Grebe 22; 21 in a flock near Gull Harbor and 1 in East Bay
Horned Grebe 2
Red-necked Grebe ~50, probably; mostly singles spread out and no group larger
than 4; basic plumage
Double-crested Cormorant not counted; plentiful in southwestern portion of
inlet; mostly immatures
Pelagic Cormorant ~10
Brandt's Cormorant 1
Surf Scoter ~250; one large flock near Gull Harbor and several smaller flocks
Ruddy Duck 1; basic plumage; in the Surf Scoter/Western Grebe group
Rhinoceros Auklet <10; scattered singles
Pigeon Guillemot <5
Glaucous-winged/Western Gull hybrids not counted
Mew Gull -- a few
Ring-billed Gull -- a few more
Belted Kingfisher 3; 1 ad male, 1 subad male, 1 heard not seen

Rumor had a whale in the southern reaches of the inlet, but we didn't see it.
Also no bottlenose dolphin, though the skipper said he saw 2 recently.
--
Scott Richardson
Olympia, Washington
salix at halcyon.com