Hello everyone,

Birded yesterday afternoon (12/02, 1:00-3:30pm) from a couple of
saltwater locations in south Puget Sound along with Carol Schulz. Seen from
the Des Moines marina were many of the usual waterfowl species in large
numbers, plus a few notables and semi-notables:

EARED GREBE 3
Western Grebe 1
Pelagic Cormorant 1
Eurasian Wigeon 1
Harlequin Duck 8
100's of Surf Scoters - only 6 White-winged
100's of goldeneyes - predominantly Barrow's
Red-breasted Merganser 10
Rhinoceros Auklet 25

At the Dash Point Pier were 32 ANCIENT MURRELETS once again, some of
them very close in, sometimes <120 feet off the pier. What an unusual year
for this species! Occasionally a couple of the birds would begin calling
softly, a rare treat. A pair of RED-NECKED GREBES were also calling to each
other on occasion. In addition to these species we also observed four
BRANDT'S CORMORANTS, small numbers of COMMON MURRES and RHINOCEROS AUKLETS,
and only one BONAPARTE'S GULL. This was at high tide, though it was beginning
to barely go out as we left. Between these two locations, we noted four
MERLINS. The bird at Dash Point was a female "Black" Merlin hunting
starlings; the others went undetermined.

This morning (12/03) we set out early for a day of birding "the
Skagit." The morning was very slow, and nothing seemed to become active until
after about 10:00am when the fog began rising. At Big Ditch was already our
first ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK of the day, and a PEREGRINE FALCON also flew
overhead. Four or five VIRGINIA RAILS were quick to respond from the marshes.
At the Skagit Game Range HQ, an adult SWAMP SPARROW was briefly studied and
later heard. Other birds seen included 12 PURPLE FINCHES, a dozen
BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS, several dozen MOURNING DOVES, and a PILEATED
WOODPECKER. An imm. NORTHERN SHRIKE was among a flock of robins (the robins
barely heeded the shrike, which perched a couple of feet from them). As we
were packing our stuff up to leave, the RED-SHOULDERED HAWK first found 11/24
(by Mike Donahue & Alan Knue) began calling near the entrance road. Grabbing
a scope and walking up the road, we obtained excellent eye-level views of
this adult bird on the top of a bush. I also managed to get some (somewhat
poor) video of the bird. I'd like to hear some comments from those who have
seen this bird, as it seems to me to resemble an adult of the eastern
subspecies, B. l. lineatus. It does not have a large amount of orange on it,
but rather has indistinct orangish bars around the belly. The whole
underparts are quite pale. The call may also favor lineatus, as what I heard
today was lower-pitched than others I've heard in the state, and longer. I
don't think the (much less likely) eastern subspecies has occurred in the
state before, but it's worth considering.

To wrap up the rest of our day in a nutshell, we had an adult
"HARLAN'S" HAWK along the Samish River near Edison, plus an aberrant immature
Harlan's-type along Bayview-Edison Road near the "T." This bird may be a
Harlan's x Western Red-tailed Hawk intergrade; quite an interesting bird. We
did not see the Tropical Kingbird at Edison. During the day we had 8
ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS total. That included 6 immature light morphs, 1 adult
light morph, and 1 adult dark morph. Considering that before today I had only
seen 5 across the state this season, they do seem to be arriving still, as
Wayne Weber noted. Several HUTTON'S VIREOS were seen in a large flock of
passerines near Bayview. Tens of thousands of DUNLIN plus hundreds of
BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS could be seen wheeling over the fields and bays
throughout the day. To end our trip there was a perched SHORT-EARED OWL and
an AMERICAN BITTERN at the Jensen access back on Fir Island at sunset.

That's all for now, good birding.

Charlie Wright
Birdking88 at aol.com
Sumner, WA