Subject: Blaine Birding, July 10-- Nesting Cormorants, southbound shorebirds, etc.
Date: Jul 14 16:10:03 2003
From: Wayne C. Weber - contopus at telus.net


This report was mailed for Wayne Weber by http://birdnotes.net

Date: July 10, 2003
Location: Blaine, Whatcom County, Washington

Temperature: 70 degrees fahrenheit
Wind direction: Variable
Prevailing wind speed: 1-5 km/h
Percentage of sky covered by clouds: 0%
Precipitation: none

The following birds were observed by Wayne Weber at Blaine, Whatcom
County, WA between 8:30 and 9:30 PM on July 10, 2003. There was a
high "low tide" of 11.5 feet at 9:35 PM, and only a fairly small
amount of mud was exposed at the base of Marine Drive in Semiahmoo
Bay.

The highlight was discovering that there were numerous active
DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT nests, some of which contained quite large
young, on the rock breakwater that parallels Marine Drive south of
the marina, and also on the crumbling concrete structures farther out
in Drayton Harbor. This is the first year I have seen any sign of
Double-crests nesting in Drayton Harbor.

There were also 4 species of apparently southbound shorebirds in
addition to KILLDEER. Several pairs of GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULLS were
also nesting on the breakwater and had small chicks, and the number
of Glaucous-wings was the highest I've ever seen here in the summer.

At least 6 HARBOR SEALS were seen off the crab pier and in Drayton
Harbor.

Birds seen (in taxonomic order):

Common Loon 2 [1]
Double-crested Cormorant 200 [2]
Great Blue Heron 15
Canada Goose 300 [3]
Semipalmated Plover 3
Killdeer 8
Greater Yellowlegs 3
Western Sandpiper 12
Least Sandpiper 5
Ring-billed Gull 100
Glaucous-winged Gull 1500 [4]
Caspian Tern 9 [5]
Northwestern Crow 2
Violet-green Swallow 2
Barn Swallow 10
American Robin 1
Song Sparrow 1
White-crowned Sparrow 1

Footnotes:

[1] in Drayton Harbor
[2] nesting on breakwater and on concrete structures in Drayton
Harbor
[3] large flocks along eastern shore of Drayton Harbor
[4] covering most of the rock and concrete breakwaters; several
pairs with chicks
[5] flying over Marine Drive; later roosting on Drayton Harbor flats
with gulls

Total number of species seen: 18