Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I birded a few local location in the general Tacoma area,beginning along Marine View Drive(S.R.509)south of Browns Point,then checking the public fishing pier at Dash Point,then continuing south to American Lake with our final stop of the day made at several locations within the Flett Creek Basin near the Mountain View Cemetery. Our main highlight of the day was a single Heermann's Gull observed along Marine View Drive,as we were scoping the vast areas of floating logbooms from a gravel pulloff. The Heermann's Gull was observed amongst a flock of Mew,Bonaparte's and a few California Gulls,as they were roosting on floating logbooms furthest away from shore,but well observed in our spotting scope. We were also joined by Matt Bartels,as we were scoping the logbooms in search of roosting and foraging shorebirds among other species. A few additional highlights noted at this location include the following species.

204 Barrow's Goldeneyes
2 Red-tailed Hawks
10 Killdeers
2 Spotted Sandpipers
14 Black Turnstones
17 Least Sandpipers
12 Dunlin
48+ Bonaparte's Gulls
2 Hermit Thrushes
8 Varied Thrushes
42+ Cedar Waxwings

Continuing on to the public fishing pier at Dash Point diversity was quite slow during our visit at 12pm with just a slight breeze,but a few highlights included 1 Ancient Murrelet and 5 Marbled Murrelets flying from Federal Way towards Point Defiance, of which both species were spotted by my mother in our spotting scope. A single Red-throated Loon was also observed during our visit,as we scoped the open saltwater.A single Anna's Hummingbird flew by our vehicle driving back to S.R.509 from the public fishing pier at Dash Point,so perhaps people in the area may have feeders. On our way back to Tacoma we stopped by an additional pulloff along Marine View Drive that yielded another Hermit Thrush for the day followed by a single Yellow-rumped Warber. Traveling south along I-5 we had intentions to go to the Nisqually NWR,but due to heavy traffic conditions at the time near Fort Lewis our plans changed. We briefly checked American Lake at Harry Todd Park that produced a Red-necked Grebe, a single male Red-breasted Merganser and a pair of Barrow's Goldeneyes among other waterbird species. Our last stop of the day was made at the Flett Basin(accessed from the Mountain View Cemetary in Lakewood,Pierce Co.)as conditions remained cloudy,but calm. A near entire list of species encountered at this location include the following:

2 Pied-billed Grebes
1 Double-crested Cormorant
1 Am.Coot
4 Gadwall
98 Ring-necked Ducks
6 Buffleheads
1 Red-tailed Hawk
32 California Quail
17 Mourning Doves
8 Western Scrub Jays
2 Red-breasted Nuthatches
2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets
3 Bewick's Wrens
3 Winter Wrens
7 Marsh Wrens
24"Sooty"Fox Sparrows
4 Lincoln's Sparrows
47 Song Sparrows
32 Golden-crowned Sparrows
2 White-crowned Sparrows
105+ Pine Siskins


Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
godwit at worldnet.att.net