Hey Everybody,

We went back out to Leadbetter today and I we saw the Tufted Duck again. This time he was very far away as the tide was much further out. I couldn't see him well but he's still out there.
I know this is a rare sighting and I tried my best to rule out any of the similarly appearing species and I kept coming back to the Tufted.
There's alot of birds out there right now!
I didn't keep count or try to look at common birds today we were mainly focused on trying to find the Tufted Duck again.
He was diving for fish and still all alone.I did notice that his dives were around 20 seconds give or take a couple. We couldn't make out the tuft today but I recognized the same white patch on the side.

We also saw lots of Blue Herons
Male and female Rufus hummingbirds near the same area.
Thousands of shorebirds in large flocks that I couldn't make out what they were. (Too far away)
Lots of pintails.
We heard a piliated woodpecker in the woods.
And 5 Turkey Vultures!
2 of them came within 100-200 feet away from us! I got a great look at them up close. You could make out the intense red on their faces. Really exciting to see them come down so close. I guess after siting motionless for nearly an hour trying to pick out one bird must have caught their attention. :-)
Anyway, I will keep trying to watch for this guy. I am about 90% sure that is a Tufted Duck. I still feel a bit unsatisfied not being able to see the tuft more than a quick glimpse a couple of times yesterday. The wind was still both times we went out so the wind wouldn't have blown the tuft of feathers against the grain or anything. We are sure we saw a tuft, don't get me wrong it's just that we only got a couple of glimpses of the tuft and not a real long hard look.
Happy Birding,

Dan Williams
Klipson Beach, WA
dewdrop129 at hotmail.com