Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I birded Clallam Co., mainly to attempt better quality
photographes of the adult male NORTHERN PARULA, which we observed and
photographed from 10:30am-12:30pm, at the Ozette Ranger Station, along the
north shore of Lake Ozette. The bird was much more cooperative during our
two hour visit to this location, as it often foraged lower in the Red Alders
than last weekend, along with consistant singing of this bird that was noted
throughout our stay. This bird also was noted primarily in the general
vicinity of the ranger station/housing/restroom area, as it would fly from
one patch of Red alders to the next, as well as sing from the tops of nearby
Sitka Spruce trees. The weather throughout this area was quite dismal, being
mostly cloudy, with isolated light rainshowers, but in the Joyce-Sequim
areas, skies were partly to mostly sunny, with some isolated minor wind,at
times.

Other notable highlights at the Ozette Ranger Station included:

1 Common Nighthawk
1 BLACK SWIFT
1 HERMIT WARBLER


The main highlight of our day, as far as a surprise, was a adult
YELLOW-BILLED LOON in alternate non-breeding plumage observed off the
northeast tip of Diamond Point at 3pm. This bird was also briefly
photographed for this exceptional June record, although other records have
occured at this time of year. This individual shows characteristics of a
non-breeding adult bird, but shows significant a black and white checkered
back, other than just being dark gray overall as in a non-breeding adult, so
some adult breeding plumage is apparent. The head, neck, and sides are
uniform dusky gray, with the head being block-shaped, showing a paler facial
area, and showing a small eyes, and the straw-yellow upturned bill, well
viewed in appropriate lighting conditions. The bird is also much heavier
built, with neck, and overall structures, being thicker and heavier overall
than a Common Loon. Perhaps this bird may linger throughout this vicinity
into the summer months. Our main reason for checking this location was to
locate TUFTED PUFFINS again, as they are always good to see, and from shore
too, with this site probably being still the best location for viewing this
species with minimal effort during the nesting season. While watching and
photographing the loon we managed to locate 3 Tufted Puffins off the
northeast tip of Diamond Point, with 1 adult quite close to shore, making an
oppurtunity for photographes, as the other two birds were well offshore
feeding with other nesting species of alcids including 3 MARBLED MURRELETS.
An ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD was the only other highlight during our hour stay at
Diamond Point.

A few other species of note that we encountered to and from destinations
included:

1 GOLDEN EAGLE flying over S.R.112 at MP 40, west of Pysht
43 BLACK SWIFTS flying over S.R.112 between MP 32 to 39, with cloudy
conditions favorable in viewing this species.

Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
GODWIT at worldnet.att.net