Subject: [Tweeters] Heermann's Gull near Tacoma
Date: Oct 8 18:07:40 2005
From: Ruth and/or Patrick Sullivan - godwit at worldnet.att.net


Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I led a successful ACOW field trip between 8am-12pm within the Dash Point area with 7 participants and a total of 69 species. We all had a great morning with several highlights and the weather couldn't have been better with nearly balmy conditions at times. It was nice to have all our participants be so eager to see all the birds we saw and heard,which made the trip go that much better!We covered areas between Palisades Park in Federal Way,Dash Point State Park,the public fishing pier at Dash Point,Brown's Point Lighthouse Park and ending our trip checking from several safe pull-offs along Marine View Drive(S.R.509). One of the most unusual species we saw during the trip was an adult Heermann's Gull that was observed near the end of our trip along Marine View Drive. The bird was first noted resting along a row of floating logbooms and watching in our spotting scopes,as we were all tending to other birds,then it was relocated nearly 30 minutes later resting with a large gull flock near the same location just south of the Tyee Marina. This was our personal 6th record for Pierce Co. and our 2nd personal record for nearly this same exact location with the other sighting noted on the 28th of November,2002(Thanksgiving Day)and was also observed by Matt Bartels.

Our other highlight of the day was searching through 2 separate mixed flocks of passerines during the morning. The densest flock of passerines was noted along the riparian edge of the lower parking lot of the beach access at Dash Point State Park. Upon our arrival to this location we were greeted with up to 3 Anna's Hummingbirds that chased eachother around a limited area before we made a small walk out to the beach shoreline. For everyone in our group this was a highlight since we all watched them fly around us,as well as occasionally perched on small twigs of trees and bushes. As we carefully looked over good numbers of both kinglets and Chestnut-backed and Black-capped Chickadees we were able to key into other species including a lingering female Yellow Warbler and up to 2 Townsend's Warblers. At this point the trees were nearly crawling with activity and a combination of imitating a Northern Pygmy Owl and "pishing" also added to the nervousness of the birds. A fairly cooperative Hermit Thrush(1 of 9 separate birds of the day)showed itself for our group,as it actively foraged in a Red-Osier Dogwood tree. This was the same exact location that hosted the Pacific-slope Flycatcher and he Black-throated Gray Warbler on the 6th of October,so it appears to be a good location for passerines since it lies along a small creek.

The other passerine flock was noted along the eastern border of the Brown's Point Lighthouse Park,which was far less diverse as the previous flock,but yielded a brief view of a late Cassin's Vireo amongst a small flock of Bushtits and Ruby-crowned Kinglets. Our trip ended with a flyover Western Scrub Jay migrating with a wandering flock of 15-20 Steller's Jays along S.R.509 near the Cliffhouse Restaurant at Brown's Point,which seemed very noteworthy for the location.

Overall today's trip included a wide variety of species,but waterbird numbers remained very low with only 2 species of alcids noted(1 Pigeon Guillemot,2 distant Rhinoceros Auklets),despite extensive scoping from several vantage locations of the East Passage. A list of out most noteworthy species encountered include the following:

Common Loon
1 flying over Dash Point State Park
1 flying over Brown's Point Lighthouse Park

Western Grebe
8+ off Dash Point State Park

Brandt's Cormorant
2+ along Marine View Drive(south of the Tyee Marina)

Eurasian Wigeon
1 male along Marine View Drive

Greater Scaup
8 off Dash Point S.P.

White-winged Scoter
1 flying off Brown's Point Lighthouse Park

Cooper's Hawk
1 near Brown's Point along S.R.509

Spotted Sandpiper
1 foraging on logbooms along Marine View Drive(south of the Tyee Marina)

Black Turnstone(high count for the location)
44 foraging on logbooms along Marine View Drive(immediately south of the Tyee Marina)

Least Sandpiper
5 foraging on logbooms along Marine View Drive(south of the Tyee Marina)

Bonaparte's Gull
200+ along Marine View Drive (south of the Tyee Marina)

Western Gull
1 juvenile bird amongst a large resting gull flock on logbooms along Marine View Drive(south of the Tyee Marina)

Band-tailed Pigeon
2 at Dash Point S.P.
5 at Dash Point
30 along Marine View Drive

Mourning Dove(noteworthy for location)
1 at Brown's Point Lighthouse Park

Anna's Hummingbird
3 at Dash Point S.P.
2 along Marine View Drive(south of the Tyee Marina)

Hermit Thrush
9 at Dash Point S.P.

Varied Thrush
1 at Palisades Park in Federal Way
12+ at Dash Point S.P.

Savannah Sparrow
2 at Brown's Point Lighthouse Park(migrants,but still noteworthy for location)

To end our day alone we birded the Nisqually NWR between 1:30pm-3:30pm,which yield a few added species for our day,despite light rain showers on our return walk from the McAllister Creek Trail. Overall conditions were quiet slow,which may have resulted in the time of day and weather conditions. Our man highlights included the following:

5 Pied-billed Grebes
43+ Cackling Geese
3 Ring-necked Ducks
1 Greater Scaup
1 Hooded Merganser
4 Northern Harriers
2 Cooper's Hawks
4 Am.Coots
3 Greater Yellowlegs
4 Long-billed Dowitchers
4 Wilson's Snipe
200+ Violet-green Swallows(observed flying over the Twin Barns)
2 Common Ravens
18 Yellow-rumped Warblers
4 Savannah Sparrows
45 Purple Finches(our personal highest count for this location)


Our mammal highlights of the day included 2-3 California Sea Lions ff Brown's Point Lighthouse Park and a Mink scampering across the McAllister Creek Trail at the Nisqually NWR,which was about our 4th personal records for this location.


To end our day we observed a single Peregrine Falcon perched atop a dead snag along I-5 near Camp Murray(Pierce Co.)



Good birding,

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