Greetings Tweeters,

Good late lunch-time birding at the Mukilteo Lighthouse beach today and the highlights were:

Marbled Murrelet
Western Grebe
Rhinoceros Auklet
Pigeon Guillemot

This was the most wonderful Marbled Murrelet sighting I have had to date. The incoming ferry churned up a lot of "bottom stuff" and two MMs in summer plumage came to about 10 feet off the beach and foraged along the shore just north of the boat ramp (lighthouse to ferry dock stretch of beach). Through my 8.5 x 44 binoculars they were gorgeous. I had seen them yesterday, further out, but didn't have my binoculars then so wasn't 100% sure of the ID. Today I am not 100% sure the auklet wasn't a Tufted Puffin, because I only got one pretty quick look, enough to see lots of orange & yellow bill and the overall shape. I didn't get another look to check for white on the face. It was pretty far out, so I opted to enjoy the wonderful views of the MMs. Someone local with a scope might want to check it out. I remember the earlier reports of possible puffins, but most likely RAs, at Deception Pass (north end of Whidbey Island, where as Mukilteo is off the south end- east side of!
Whidbey Islandfor those who don't know).

The grebe stayed out further away from shore, but still was easily seen. There were at least three Pigeon Guillemots in close enough to shore that the red legs and feet were quite noticeable with the naked eye.

I probably had a happy grin on my face as I walked back up the hill to the office.

Cheers!
Judy

--
Judy Rowe Taylor
Mukilteo, WA
Art is a voice of the heart, a song of the soul.
judyrowetaylor at comcast.net
www.enduringibis.com