Cassin?s Auklet
9/4/04, Saturday
Tweeters,
Just got home from leading an Accessible Birding trip to Edmond?s Marsh
and Pier. The Birdbox is not answering, so I will post this here.

It was an excellent morning for visibility, overcast and calm.
Temperatures were in the upper 50?s and low 60?F.

Around 9:30 a.m., right before an 8.9 tide at the Edmonds fishing pier,
Jeff Doochin called me over to look at an alcid in his scope. It was a
small dark alcid; it looked smaller than the Marbled Murrelets we had
been watching. It had a noticeably round head and a small, pointy,
bi-colored beak. There was some light around the eye, but it was not
remarkable as I got my first and only look at this bird. The throat was
light, and there were light places along the flanks. The undertail
coverts were definitely white. This is what I saw before the bird dove.
We were unable to find the bird again. The round head and unusual beak
reminded me of a bird I had reviewed just last night, a CASSIN?S AUKLET.
Referencing the Sibley field guide on the spot, the picture and
description of a juvenile looked just like what we had both seen. I was
unable to find another species in the book that was even similar.

I had noticed the species on Ted Peterson?s checklist last night as I
prepared for the trip. However, I looked it up because I like to look at
alcids, not because I thought there was any chance we might see it. It
was listed as only being seen a couple times at the Edmonds Pier. I did
study particularly juveniles of gulls and many, many other species last
night that we were much more likely to see, but didn?t. My list follows.

Patricia S. Lott
Seattle, WA
mail to: VariedThrush at comcast.net

38 species
Canada Goose
Mallard
Green-winged Teal
Western Grebe
Double-creasted Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Cooper?s Hawk
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs, heard only in the Marsh between stations 3 and 4
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Red-necked Phalarope
Bonaparte?s Gull
Heermann?s Gull
Mew Gull
Herring Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Common Tern
Pigeon Guillemot
Marbled Murrelet
CASSIN?S AUKLET
Rhinoceros Auklet
Rock Pigeon
Belted Kingfisher
American Crow
PURPLE MARTIN, one over the Marsh just before noon
Cliff Swallow, one with the Barn Swallows
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Bushtit
Marsh Wren
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Orange-crowned Warbler
NASHVILLE WARBLER
Red-winged Blackbird
Purple Finch
American Goldfinch

P.S. I heard that a FORSTER?S TERN was seen at Brackett?s Landing a
couple days ago and I was told that Dennis Duffy identified it.