Hello y'all,
A mild, grey, foggy, rainy Saturday with almost no wind: New arrivals
were 2 male BARROW'S goldeneyes, the first I can document here for this
season. We usually have 60 - 90 of these beautiful ducks spending
the winter around the Marina; more should arrive daily. Today we had up
to 500! AMERICAN wigeon, not an Eurasian in the bunch. A single MARBLED
murrelet, still dark but developing the whitish shoulder stripe, was off
the end of the fishing pier along with several RED-NECKED grebes, one with
alternate plumage. Up to 3 BELTED kingfishers are hanging around the
Marina, one spotted today (could not see front for gender) crunched down
in the rain on the big sign at the south end of the jetty. Other birds
included varying numbers of SURF scoters, HORNED grebes and 1 basic PIGEON
guillemot, DOUBLE-CRESTED cormorants, a forlorn and drenched GBH, also
a scattering of immaculately plumed BONEPARTE'S gulls, a few CALIFORNIA
gulls and some that look suspiciously near-WESTERN were amongst the dozens
and dozens of GLAUCOUS-WINGED plus highly variable hybrids that increase
in the wintering population. I also spotted a really LARGE, must have
been over 30 cm in diameter, jelly fish (species unknown) in the water
near the fishing pier.

The PIED-BILLED grebes that normally winter here have NOT yet been seen
during my fall surveys. Has anyone else who is keeping an eye on the
south Sound birds had this species yet at your marina? I'll try to check
my area again in the morning; need to scout the forested places for the
small passerines, too.

Sorta of a standard mid-fall day and cheers to all,

Maureen Ellis me2 at u.washington.edu Univ of WA and Des Moines, WA

"Finding the occasional straw of truth awash in a great ocean of
confusion and bamboozle requires vigilance, dedication, and courage."
-Carl Sagan-