Yesterday, around 5:00pm., I saw what I believe was a first-year ICELAND GULL
about 50 yards east of the Makah Maiden Cafe in Neah Bay.

The bird was obviously smaller than the nearby Glaucous-winged Gulls. The bill
was sort of medium heftiness, and all black. The legs were fainly pink. The
whole of the plumage was basically white with faint orangey-tan checking.
There was no contrast at all between the mantle and the primaries. The bird,
without binos, looked WHITE. Unfortunately, I did not secure a photo.

Also, there were 15-20 Tufted Puffins at Shi Shi beach (8 mi. SSW of Neah Bay)
on Saturday, with a few there on Sunday as well. Both times we saw puffins it
was about 1 hour after low tide, and both times the puffins were with gulls,
cormorants, and Surf Scoter, best visible from Point of Arches.

We also saw an adult Peregrine Falcon harass an adult Bald Eagle at Point of
Arches on Sunday. What was neat was that the Peregrine did a full-blown
loop-de-loop, flying completely upside-down in its efforts. A magnificant
display.

Huge numbers of Bald Eagles (maybe 15 counting Neah Bay and Shi Shi), Wilson's
Warblers, and Orange-crowned Warblers were present. Also saw River Otter and
Sea Otter.

The Makah were hunting whale on Saturday and Sunday. What a production - about
10 ships and boats, at least 2 of which were Coast Guard, and usually two or
three helicopters (one Coast Guard, the others from TV stations) were circling
and otherwise surrounding the sea canoe. The helicopter noise was constant for
us at the beach from around 6:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. or so, when the whaling
canoe was towed back to Neah Bay. I would think any self-respecting Gray Whale
would be able to recognize and avoid this spectacle. I'll be very surprised if
the Makah are able to get even a glimpse of a whale under the circumstances.

== Michael Hobbs
== Kirkland WA
== hummer at isomedia.com