Continuing this thread on storm mortality (and thanks to those people who responded publicly and privately to my previous post), several years ago I went to Ocean Shores the day after Thanksgiving. There were a number of "grounded" western grebes and a common loon on the beach. A collegue of mine and her husband typically spend the Thanksgiving weekend at Ocean Shores, and she told me that they often see dead and dying western grebes on the beach in late November.

I think a number of species (red phalarope, maybe common murres, in addition to those already mentioned) take a "hit" with our fall storms. What's unusual this fall is the number of Puget Sound sightings of fulmars. I wonder if something else is going on at sea that's driving them inshore, and that this influx is not entirely due to storms. Or maybe this fall more of them have been surviving through the storms, and are able to move into inshore waters.

Mike Donahue
Seattle