Dear Tweeters,
Sunday's (4/16/2000) sponsored by the Port Townsend Marine Science Center
turned out to be an outstanding birding & mammal experience. The majority
of the passengers were volunteers from the Nature Conservancy and we were
joined by Dianne McRae, resulting in a boatload of very receptive, observant
passengers. The trip began with a prolonged viewing of a California Sea
Lion repeatedly attempting to hoist himself upon the Point Hudson buoy,
finally succeeding after numerous attempts. It was our crew's first
experience observing how they wind up on these buoys. Its agility,
persistence & strength were well demonstrated. Additional mammal sightings
included Harbor porpoise, Harbor Seals everywhere, another California Sea
Lion on the Point Wilson buoy and an immature male elephant seal on
Protection Island.
The birding all day long was exceptional throughout all locations, with the
highlights being the 24 or 25 Bald Eagles on Protection Island and the
approx. 1000 Black Turnstones on Rat Island. The complete sighting list is
below. The remaining two Protection Island Cruises scheduled for April 23rd
& April 29th are full but we will schedule cruises for the fall season and
we do have one sail aboard the 101' schooner Adventuress scheduled for
Saturday, June 17th.
Key: P-Protection Island R-Rat Island, Indian Island, Kilisut Harbor area
PW- Point Wilson, PtH - Point Hudson

Common Loon - P,R
Western Grebe - P
Horned Grebe - P
Double Crested Cormorant - all
Pelagic Cormorant - all
Black Brant - P, R
White Winded Scoter - P,R
Surf Scoter - P, R
Harlequin Duck - P,R
Oldsquaw - P
Bufflehead - R
Red Breasted Merganser - P,R
Black Oystercatcher - P,R
Black Turnstone - R
Dunlin - R
Sanderling - R
Western Sandpiper - R
Bonaparte Gull - R
Mew Gull - R, PtW
Glaucus Winged gull - all
Common Tern - PtW
Pigeon Guillemot - all
Marbled Murrelet - P
Rhinoceros auklet - PtW
Bald Eagle - 24+ P, 4 R
Northwestern Crow -R
Starling - P, PtH
Song Sparrow - P

Peter B.
Port Townsend Marine Science Center
532 Battery Way
Port Townsend, WA 98368

(360) 385-5582
(360) 385-7248