11:58am start - water level medium, all mudflats visible, with an outgoing tide
12:27pm end

Tweeters,
Relatively humid, with virtually no wind and lots of clouds today. I had a Kittiwake at Turning Basin #3 (TB3) today at 12:24pm! Unfortunately, it wasn't either of the bird species: it was the state research boat "Kittiwake" (Seattle), drag-netting samples in the middle of the channel.

After spotting a PEREGRINE FALCON on the east power tower, I walked upstream to look at the east/south end of TB3 . As I scoped the opposite bank, I heard lots of wings flapping behind and above me, and glanced over to see about 20 pigeons haulin' butt around the corner of one of the Boeing buildings. Sensing that it was the falcon causing the high-speed movement, I looked up in time to see the PEFA chasing the flock -- no success, even after the falcon took another couple of passes as the pigeons circled the building. The falcon then flew back to the top of the east power tower.

Note: Some folks noted American Pipits at Hamm Creek this past weekend. (Tip of the hat to Bruce Clifton for alerting me to that.)

A harbor seal cruised by the TB3 restoration area.

Birds seen during this scan include the following:
Canada Goose (47)
Mallard (18)
Common Merganser (4; one adult with 3 juv)
Great Blue Heron
Osprey (4; two adults and two juv; didn't see the third Hamm Creek juv, which may have been down in the nest)
Killdeer (4)
Glaucous-winged Gull (8)
Rock Pigeon (31)
Belted Kingfisher
American Crow (17)
European Starling (167)
House Finch
House Sparrow (3)

May all your birds be identified,

Denis DeSilvis
Seattle, WA
mailto:denis.j.desilvis at boeing.com