Tweets,
Leading a trip over to Kitsap County yesterday for SAS we had a few
highlights:
At Burley Lagoon in Pierce County there were 3 Eared Grebes in breeding
plumage allowing nice comparisons to the nearby Horned also in Breeding
plumage. Yes, there were alot of Common Loons here in breeding plumage but
I'm not sure thats all that a-typical. I often see alot of loons around
the end of April (possibly gathering in pre-migration?) and the breeding
plumage loon is much easier to spot than its basic counterpart. I can't
speak for those Loons who were on Lk. Sammamish but I doubt that few if
any of the loons here in the greater Puget area will breed in the greater
Puget area, I do know of a couple as you approach the foothills of the
Cascades.
Anyway back to the highlights,
A few returning migrants were singing at the Port Orchard Airport:
Orange-crowns and a Warbling Vireo.
At the Gorst Estuary there was an estimated 300 Dunlin in breeding
plumage.
Some of the nicest looks of alcids people will ever get were at Point no
Point. We had both basic and alternate plumaged Marbled Murrelets right
off of the beach, maybe 30 feet. Also there were about 6 Rhino Auklets in
full alternate plumage also right off of the beach about the same
distance, almost didn't need the binocs.
We witnessed what I think may have been a "migrational?" movement of
Steller's jays at the Point. I watched as many ~15 Steller'ss dropped out
of the sky and flew down to the bushes and trees around the point. The
birds were coming from accross the water and were initially spotted at
elevations of about 300 feet. My question is can this be explained by
other than migration of some sort and have other people witnessed similat
things?
All total we had 72 species for the day and a glorious weather day spent
what we all love to do when its 70 degrees out, birding!

Scott Downes
sdownes at u.washington.edu
Seattle WA

"Birds don't read bird books. (That's why they are seen doing things they
are not supposed to do)." -Mary Wood