Subject: Port Townsend area, 2/21/04
Date: Feb 22 09:35:34 2004
From: Netta Smith - nettasmith at comcast.net


Hello, tweeters.

The Seattle Audubon Master Birders field trip visited Port Townsend
yesterday (2/21), among other areas, and interesting birds included two GRAY
JAYS at Anderson Lake State Park, south of Port Townsend. I notice that the
Washington Breeding Bird Atlas does not show the species as occurring on
that peninsula at all, and I have never seen it there in many visits. The
forest at the park consists of fairly large trees, although not old growth,
so it seems appropriate habitat for the species.

There were large numbers of sea birds feeding in the swift tidal current off
Point Wilson, with the usual behavior of floating downcurrent, then flying
up it, so just about all the birds were flying right to left and could be
tracked and discussed by all. Among them were surprising numbers of MARBLED
MURRELETS, a species that has declined greatly in Washington. I'm sure we
saw 40+, all flying past in pairs, and that has to be just a sample of the
many more that were there. I saw one trio and several singles as well. All
were still in full nonbreeding plumage, whereas many of the PIGEON
GUILLEMOTS were in breeding plumage (those that were not could be
immatures), a few of the COMMON MURRES were in that plumage, and all of the
RHIONOCEROS AUKLETS (the most abundant species) were in full breeding
plumage. These differences in the time of acquisition of breeding plumage in
alcids are really quite interesting, as they don't necessarily correlate
with when the birds return to their breeding sites.

We looked hard for Ancient Murrelets with no luck.

Dennis
--
Netta Smith and Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115