Natalie and I spent the morning and early afternoon birding along Marine
View Drive (State Route 509) with stops at Saltwater State Park in Des
Moines (King County), Dash Point Park and pier, Browns Point, and Gog-le-
hi-te Wetlands in the Tacoma Tideflats area (all in Pierce County).

The only place we saw large numbers of birds was in the NE 5000 block of
Marine View Drive on our way home this afternoon at 1:30 p.m., where we
watched hundreds of AMERICAN ROBIN and at least 20 VARIED THRUSH flocking
and feeding in the madrona trees on the north side of the road. There
were a few surprises along the way - a late YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER at
Saltwater State Park and a pair of HERMIT THRUSHES and one BLACK-THROATED
GRAY WARBLER along Marine View Drive. I know that the latter warbler is a
late observation, but Natalie and I both had good looks at the bird as it
flitted and fed among the foliage in a madrona tree, and we could see no
yellow in the bird's plumage. We also saw THAYERS GULLS at Saltwater
State Park and at the Gog-le-hi-te Wetlands in Tacoma.

In addition to the birds listed below, we also noticed 23 KILLDEER
feeding in the fields at Lakota Park in Federal Way, which was
interesting since earlier this week on Monday I noted 21 Killdeer along
the shore of Commencement Bay at Dickman Mill Park on Ruston Way.
Interesting to see two large groups of Killdeer in two different places
this week. On an unrelated birding note, two days ago I watched a mature
BALD EAGLE scare up 18 GREAT BLUE HERONS from the old Asarco property on
Ruston Way.

We observed 47 species for the day. Here is the breakdown (birds listed
in the order they were observed):

Saltwater State Park (King County), starting at 11 a.m.
- Common Goldeneye (9)
- Red-necked Grebe
- Northern Flicker
- American Crow (100+)
- Horned Grebe (4)
- Surf Scoter (30)
- White-winged Scoter
- Spotted Towhee (2)
- Western Grebe (2)
- Western Gull (3)
- Glaucous-winged Gull
- Bonaparte's Gull (15)
- Killdeer (2)
- Thayer's Gull
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet (2)
- Bufflehead (10)
- Song Sparrow (2)
- Yellow-rumped Warbler
- House Finch
- Golden-crowned Sparrow
- Bushtit (15)
- Barrow's Goldeneye (8)
- Purple Finch
- Great Blue Heron
- Double-crested Cormorant (2)
- Red-breasted Merganser
- Scaup species (too far away for a solid ID)
- Loon species (only a glimpse...likely a Common Loon)
- Belted Kingfisher

Dash Point Park and Pier (Pierce County), starting at 12:30 p.m.
- Double-crested Cormorant (2)
- Horned Grebe (4)
- Marbled Murrelet (4)
- Rhinocerous Auklet (2)
- Bonaparte's Gull (2)
- Rock Pigeon
- Steller's Jay
- American Crow (40)
- Red-tailed Hawk
- American Robin
- Nothern Flicker
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Bald Eagle (seen earlier in the day as we were heading north)

Browns Point (Pierce County), starting at 1 p.m.
- Bonaparte's Gull (150)
- Red-necked Grebe (5)
- Horned Grebe (4)
- Marbled Murrelet (6)
- Ring-billed Gull
- Glaucous-winged Gull
- Rhinocerous Auklet (8)
- Double-crested Cormorant (10)
- Brandt's Cormorant (5) flying past to the north toward Dash Point
- Surf Scoter (2)
- Bufflehead (4)
- Western Gull

Marine View Drive (Pierce County) in the NE 5000 block at a gravel pull out
- 250+ seals hauled up on the logs inside the log boom
- Red-breasted Merganser (4)
- Hooded Merganser
- Barrow's Goldeneye (100+)
- Great Blue Heron (40+)
- Horned Grebe (2)
- Spotted Sandpiper
- Black Turnstone
- Varied Thrush (20+)
- Hermit Thrush (2)
- American Robin (300+) flocking along the madrona trees high above SR 509
- Western Gull
- Dunlin (20) flocking at the mouth of the Puyallup River)
- Mallard (3)
- Black-throated Gray Warbler
- Song Sparrow

Gog-le-hi-te Wetland (Pierce County), starting at 2:15 p.m.
- American Crow (100+)
- Great Blue Heron
- Bushtit (20)
- Ring-billed Gull
- Mew Gull
- Thayer's Gull (25)
- Glaucous-winged Gull (15)

Happy holiday to all!

Rob

--
Rob McNair-Huff ---------- mailto:rob at whiterabbits.com
White Rabbit Publishing -- http://www.whiterabbits.com/
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