At 11 a.m. this morning I observed a Black Swan resting at the mouth of
Valley Creek in the estuary park along Marine Drive in Port Angeles. I
learned about it from Mike & Carrie McCool a few minutes before when I
passed them while biking along the Marine Drive trail, and went right over
to check it out. Sure enough: a large black-all-over swan with a prominent
red bill was standing in the shallows and preening along the westside of the
creek mouth.

Although native to Australia, Black Swans are rather commonly found in zoos
and private collections. So it's very unlikely that this is other than an
escaped individual from somewhere. The best place to view it, or to look for
it, is the covered viewing platform on the east (or opposite) side of the
creek mouth.

Bruce Moorhead
Port Angeles, WA
bruceb at olypen.com