Subject: Renton area gulls; 9 Jan. 2004.
Date: Jan 9 21:57:20 2004
From: EvilEmpid at comcast.net - EvilEmpid at comcast.net


Hello all,
Ryan Shaw, Tracey Norris, and I briefly checked two areas on the south end of Lake Washington this afternoon (9 January). The highlight was definitely two Glaucous Gulls on the sandbar at Cedar River estuary, one of which was probably the one found by Cameron Cox yesterday. There is still plenty of rare gull potential in this area.

South Lake Washington, Renton (3:30-4:30pm):
Canvasback (14)
Mew Gull (10)
Ring-billed Gull (20)
California Gull (5)
Thayer's Gull (20)
Herring Gull (60+)
Glaucous Gull (2: 1-1W, 1-2W)
Western Gull (16)
Glaucous-winged Gull (~8000)
Gl.-winged x Western Gull (500)
Gl.-winged x Herring Gull (~10)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (1)

To get to Gene Coulon Memorial Beach Park, take I-405 to exit 5. Drop down the hill on Park Drive to the light at the bottom of the hill. Turn right on Lk Washington Blvd, go approx. one block, and turn left into Coulon Park. Staying to the left, and continue to the tennis court/big toy area where you can park. From there you can walk out on Duck Island to view thousands of gulls and various waterfowl on the lake and on logs in the area.

The Cedar River enters Lake Washington between Renton Airfield and Gene Coulon Park. From the park, return to Park Avenue and turn right (south). Continue about 1/2 mile to 6th Street. Turn right and continue to the Cedar River. Follow the road along the river to the end where there is a parking lot. If the gate is open (it sometimes is closed in adverse weather), walk through to the Cascade Canoe & Kayak center. There's excellent viewing of thousands of gulls loafing on the sand spit from the deck around the building.

On a slightly disturbing note, we saw at least 25 dead gull carcasses beached on the shores of Lk Washington.

Cheers and good birding,
--
Charlie Wright
Sumner, WA
charlie at birdwright.com