....saw a pair off the end of Golden Gardens on Saturday.
Quite a ways out, couldn't see them with the naked eye.

Today I birded the lazy way: started at the beginning of
Alki with the passenger window down, and just skipped
from spot to spot. Parking was ample and I rarely got
out of the car; very rainy and windy. Saw a lot of
Western grebes before the lighthouse. Saw what I think
was a Cassin's Auklet (right head/bill, white belly,
gray front, darker head and back, stubby wings)--
is that reasonable place for one?

Further down was a Harlequin pair very close to shore
that gave me all I could wish for. Like grebes, it
seems to dive right out of the water before diving
under, but the Harlequin spreads its wings as it hits,
maybe to help it swim. Only the wind and the rain
drove me away.

--Rebecca Galloway
Northgate, Seattle