Hello Tweets,

As of 4:45pm this evening the Great Black-backed Gull was not seen during the entire day,as far as birders my mother and I spoke with at the Cedar River Park in Renton,King Co. My mother and I arrived at the Cedar River Park at 2pm,but other birders were on location ,as we viewed gulls coming and going from the mouth of the Cedar River and nearby areas. We were told there were birders during the entire day beginning from 8am or possibly before checking the general gull locations between the Cedar River Park and Gene Coulon Park,so it is believed the area was thoroughly checked.The weather conditions were fairly wet(with fairly heavy rain at times)during our visit with slowly decreasing visibility due to low clouds and somewhat foggy conditions over Lake Washington. Gull flocks were most active and visible from the entire shoreline from Duck Island at Gene Coulon Park northward and from the mouth of the Cedar River,despite the shooting of fireworks made from a Renton Airport personnel to flush the gulls away from the area. Good numbers of gulls were noted at the mouth of the Cedar River,as the bathed,preened and loafed on the exposed sand spit,but would occasionally fly off to unknown areas such as possible roof tops,etc. The most noteworthy gull species noted during our visit and observed by other birders included up to 2 Glaucous Gulls(1st winter plumage)that have been previously reported by others onto Tweeters most recently amongst good numbers of other Larus gulls,including good comparisons of Glaucous-winged,Herring,Thayer's,Western and various intergrades of different aged birds. We mostly confined our visit to the Cedar River Park,but also checked accessible areas from the Gene Coulon Park in search of any gull activity,but the best viewing still remained to be the mouth of the Cedar River. Other noted species during our visit included the following:

3 Red-necked Grebes
1 Eared Grebe
500+ Western Grebes
14 Greater White-fronted Geese
35+ Canvasbacks
9 Barrow's Goldeneyes(noted only along the Cedar River)


Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
godwit at worldnet.att.net