Subject: Jetty Island, was Arctic Terns in Everett?
Date: Jun 24 23:14:32 1999
From: Ed Schulz - eschulz at gte.net


A few years ago I watched a Gray Whale feeding for several
hours off of Howarth Park which just south of Jetty Island.
They do come into Port Gardner Bay from time to time. So cool
to watch!

Speaking of Jetty Island, the free passenger ferry between the
island and Port of Everett will begin running July 7. The
boat runs every half hour from 10am to 5:30pm Wednesday
through Saturday and 11am to 5:30pm on Sundays. It leaves
from the 10th St. Boat Launch & Marine Park on West Marine
View Drive, eight blocks north of the Naval Station. Jetty is
a great place to see Caspian Terns, Spotted Sandpiper, and one
of the best places in the PNW to see Osprey fishing. The
Snohomish River estuary about a mile north supports at least
twenty nesting pairs of Osprey and over two hundred DC
Cormorant nests. Birders would do well to head to the west
side of the island and then north. You will completely escape
the crowd if you are willing to rough it for a hundred yards
or so. ;-) The island is about two miles long. Almost every
year Arctic Terns show up and Everett used to be about as far
south as they were known to nest. (Be sure to scan for Arctic
Terns among the Caspians.) One could make a good local
birding day of it by doing both Spencer and Jetty Islands,
since they are close.

The city has a recorded info line at 425-257-8305 and the
Jetty Kiosk number is 425-257-8304 (staffed after July 7).

Ed Schulz
Everett, WA

-----Original Message-----
From: Christopher Hill <cehill at u.washington.edu>
To: Wes Jansen <nikonf7 at hotmail.com>
Cc: tweeters at u.washington.edu <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Date: Wednesday, June 23, 1999 11:40 AM
Subject: Re: Arctic Terns in Everett?


>Whales?
>
>Gray Whales off Jetty Island?!!
>
>Now I really regret not paddling out there.
>
>You say you heard many terns - were those Arctics? There are
still a few
>dozen Caspians in the area (at a very rough estimate). Way
down from the
>thousands of three and more years ago, but still outnumbering
(and
>outsquawking) the more mellifluous Arctics by a wide margin,
unless
>there's been a surge in Arctic numbers.
>
>Chris
>
>On Wed, 23 Jun 1999, Wes Jansen wrote:
>
>> Last Friday, I was looking at grey whales west of Jetty
Island. We saw at
>> least two terns and herd many more. The weather was
typical for this year,
>> and it was dark and rather gloomy (after 6:00 PM). By and
large we saw many
>> more greys than birds of interest.
>>
>> wjansen