Hi Tweeters,

On Saturday, February 3, 2001, we bicycled roads along the shorelines of
Puget Sound between Southworth and Port Orchard. The route goes along the
water much of the way. We do this ride every winter just to observe the
seabirds and keep records on what we see. This year we saw Western Grebes
by the thousand in the waters between Harper and Port Orchard, observing
them with our spotting scope from Cornell Road north of Harper, from
Manchester, Manchester State Park, Retsil and Port Orchard. Thousands of
American Wigeon, along with a few Eurasian Wigeon, were along the beaches,
in fields, on lawns and ponds. Common Goldeneye were plentiful as well,
with just a few Barrow's Goldeneyes mixed in. We saw many pairs of Horned
Grebe along the route plus plenty of Red-necked Grebe. Actually, the
Red-necked Grebes were in greater numbers than we have seen before. Surf
Scoters were all along the waters in great numbers, with just a scattering
of White-winged Scoters, but zero Black Scoters. About 16 Red-breasted
Mergansers were at the ferry dock at Vashon, along with one Pigeon
Guillemot almost into full breeding plumage. We usually see many more
Guillemots. We did not see any Murrelets or Auklets, but usually do not
see them along this route.

Shorebirds were absent except for one lone Greater Yellowlegs at a
marshy inlet at the west end of Olympiad Road. Black Brant were absent as
well--we have seen them in years past. Three Harlequins, two males and one
female were on their accustomed rock in the waters along Cornell Road;
always a thrill to see them. There were few loon, one Common and one
Red-throated, but plenty of Bufflehead, Mallard, Greater Scaup (mostly in
the small Lake by the Manchester Naval Depot.) Kingfishers were all along
the route, both male and female. One lone Bald Eagle looked down at us at
Manchester, and several Great Blue Herons perused the shorelines.
Cormorants completely covered the navigation aids in the channel along
Sinclair Inlet, but we did not break out the scope to determine if there
were any Pelagics among the Double Cresteds.

All in all, a good list of seabirds and a gorgeous day for bicycling.

Bill and Erin Woods Woods Tree Farm Redmond, WA U.S.A.
<wwwbike at halcyon.com>