Subject: Ancient Murrelets in Edmonds
Date: Nov 28 22:19:21 2002
From: buteoreg at attbi.com - buteoreg at attbi.com


Hi tweets,

I wanted to let you all know that Ancient Murrelets are being seen regularly
and closely at the Fishing Pier in Edmonds. I know people have been seeing them
there regularly for a couple of weeks and a friend of mine even got some great
video of them at close range. It was really stunning to see his excellent video
of what is normally such a difficult to view bird.

Today Marissa Benavente and I went down there around noon and saw about 8-10
birds within a minute or two of arriving. We watched them for perhaps fifteen
minutes before they dissapeared. Most were perhaps 100-300 feet offshore (still
quite close) but several came within 20-30 feet of the dock. They were active
the whole time, feeding, but still provided great looks. We hung around another
hour or so since there were plenty of other birds to watch and a pair of
Ancients eventually reappeared and made a brief circuit before swimming off to
the south.

We ended up with a 4 alcid day since we saw several Rhino Auklets, 5-10 Common
Murres and 3 Pigeon Guillemots. The Bonaparte's Gulls were spectacular as they
cruised back and forth within 10-20 feet of the pier as they plunged for fish.
We also observed Western, Horned and Red-necked Grebes, Red-breasted Mergansers
(2 flby), Mew and GW Gulls, Surf Scoters, Bufflehead, DC Cormorant, an immature
Bald Eagle, Harbor Seals, etc. We were told we had just missed a large pod of
Orcas heading south before we arrived.

At the fish hatchery we saw two female SLATE-COLORED JUNCOS (near the gate to
the petroleum place), a Pileated WP and a Red-breasted Sapsucker, a Varied
Thrush and an immature Redtail.

What a great way to spend a beautiful Thanksgiving day!

good birding,

Jim Flynn--
buteoreg at attbi.com
Seattle, WA