Subject: [Tweeters] Ancient Murrelets off Dash Point 11-9
Date: Nov 9 17:43:42 2004
From: Ruth Sullivan - godwit at worldnet.att.net


Hello Tweets,

This afternoon my mother and I observed up to 27 Ancient Murrelets off the public fishing pier at Dash Point at 2pm,which adds to the other recent Puget Sound sightings of this species in past weeks. All the birds were observed fairly far offshore looking north of the pier in groups of 5-9 birds and in good lighting and calm conditions. Away from these birds conditions were quite slow with just a few other waterbirds species of note including the following:

15 Greater Scaups
26 Surf Scoters
1 White-winged Scoters
17 Barrow's Goldeneyes
12 Red-breasted Mergansers
8 Red-necked Grebes
7 Horned Grebes
8 Western Grebes
4 Common Murres
9 Rhinoceros Auklets
12 Bonaparte's Gulls
2 Herring Gulls

A brief check on our way home along S.R.509(Marine View Drive)south of the Tyee Marina produced the following highlights of note:

55 Barrow's Goldeneyes
130 Western Grebes
1 Spotted Sandpiper
12 Black Turnstones
7 Least Sandpipers
90 Bonaparte's Gulls
85+ Mew Gulls
8 California Gulls
3 Herring Gulls
2 Thayer's Gulls
2 Red-tailed Hawks

In addition we observed a single adult Peregrine Falcon circling overhead along I-5 just west of Fife.


Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
Fircrest,WA
godwit at worldnet.att.net