Subject: Ancient Murrelets
Date: Dec 4 17:52:30 2002
From: Ruth Sullivan - GODWIT at worldnet.att.net


Hello Tweets,

This afternoon my mother and I located and observed a total high count of 43 Ancient Murrelets off the Dash Point Park pier during our short vist between 3:30pm-3:55pm,as lighting conditions became poor. We were also joined by Carol Schultz and her birding friend named Dorothy,who both also got reasonable looks and counts of the drifting and feeding Ancient Murrelets off the pier along with a few addtional species that my mother and I were able to view during our visit including:

1 Red-throated Loon
2 White-winged Scoters
1 adult Western Gull
2 Pigeon Guillemots(observed near the shoreline of Maury Island in our spotting scope,being our first of the species among other alcid species during all our recent visits)

Perhaps lingering numbers will remain until or through the Tacoma CBC on the 21st of December,which would be a good species with very few records that have ever been recorded of the species,but looking back in past CBC issues of American Birds a high count of 193 were counted in 1979(with 80 counted on the Olympia CBC that same year),which is an astounding record high count,so an apparent "invasion" may have occured in southern Puget Sound in the winter of 1979. Other records that we are aware of for the Tacoma CBC of Ancient Murrelets include 5 in 1989,so there is a chance good numbers may linger at the Dash/Browns Point area this winter,which is where they may have been seen on the past CBC's.


Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
godwit at worldnet.att.net
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