Hi Tweets -

A belated report for a Seattle Audubon trip on Saturday to
Point-No-Point and stops north to Marrowstone Island. No the best day
weatherwise - with the exception of the first hour at Point-No-Point we
were dodging rain all day long. What we couldn't dodge was winds. Even
the ferry ride from Edmonds was relatively bird-free because of the wind
picking up. At Kingston Harbor over along the south shore in a protected
location was a raft of about 200 WESTERN GREBE.

At Point-No-Point we were sheltered from the winds (not real strong) on
the north side of the lighthouse. We had excellent views of BARROW'S
GOLDENEYE, BRANDT'S CORMORANT, BUFFLEHEAD, RED-BREASTED MERGANSER, SURF
SCOTER. We also saw MEW & BONAPARTE'S GULLS, GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROWS,
and several GREAT BLUE HERONS.

As we left the "point" it was starting to rain, and with the wind we
skipped over a couple of stops and headed for the Olympic Peninsula
hoping for rainshadow. It worked, but we couldn't escape the wind. At
the Jefferson County Oak Bay parks the wind was howling and so was the
surf - whitecaps on Oak Bay and waves breaking over the riprap. Lots of
NORTHERN PINTAIL, a few GREEN-WINGED TEAL and some MALLARDS on the pond.
On the other side of the bay the story was much the same, but there were
some bay birds there -- much like a pelagic trip waiting for the birds
to be carried to the top of the waves and become visible. A nice little
cluster of BLACK SCOTERS along with SURF and WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS, some
HARLEQUIN DUCK, and BUFFLEHEAD.

Mystery Bay had a big raft of WHITE-WINGED SCOTER, some HORNED GREBE,
COMMON LOON and a GREAT BLUE HERON trying to avoid the wind. A small
cluster of HOUSE FINCH and PINE SISKIN in the tree tops (but no
REDPOLLS).

At Fort Flagler SP we went out to Marrowstone Light in hopes of flybys -
but the wind was high there also and no birds were present, with the
exception of a couple of KILLDEER on the lawn as we left.

Out at the Fort Flagler beach side it was considerably more protected
and we had good numbers of birds. A good size flock of shorebirds
including about 45 BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER, 40 DUNLIN, and 30+ SANDERLING
(unfortunately no GOLDEN PLOVER). On one of the gravel bars there was a
log with one BLACK TURNSTONE on it. Out in the water were a group of
about 100 BRANT, HARLEQUIN DUCK, COMMON LOON, a PACIFIC LOON, a couple
of LONG-TAILED DUCK, HORNED and RED-NECKED GREBE and BUFFLEHEAD. On the
road out we had WINTER WREN, RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, GOLDEN-CROWNED
KINGLET, and BUSHTIT.

Picking up skipped locations on our trip back we hit a hole in the rain
at Salsbury Point and had nice looks at non-breeding plumage MARBLED
MURRELETS, COMMON LOON, HORNED GREBE, and also DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT.
Just down the road at Port Gamble the bay had a reasonable number of
birds including BUFFLEHEAD, SURF and WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS, COMMON
GOLDENEYE, RED-NECKED and WESTERN GREBE, and a couple of GREATER SCAUP.

In spite of the rain and wind we had a good day, winding up with 63
species.

Brian H. Bell
Woodinville Wa
bellasoc at isomedia.com