Just got back from a drive into town to get mail and groceries and got very
aggravated at the price of stuff at the hardware store. So on the way back
home I took my time and did some birding.

At Belfair State Park many of the usual cast of characters were present,
Canada geese, both goldeneyes, green-wing teal, Northern pintails, American
wigeons, gadwalls and mallards and gulls aplenty. I was about to leave when
a large white goose shaped bird paddled into view. To my amazement it was a
juvenile tundra swan. In all the years I've birded at the park I've never
seen a tundra swan there. It seemed to be making its way to where the geese
were. I saw no adult swans. Hopefully it will stick around for a while.

At the Port of Allyn pier (about a mile west of the park) I stopped to gaze
upon the multitude of ruddy ducks on the Canal. As the Sullivans stated in
their posted there are easily 350-400 ruddies in various sized flotillas.
Lots of buffleheads were also to be seen. Just a bit farther down North
Shore Rd. is the Port of Allyn boat launch, always a good place for birding
Hood Canal. More ruddy ducks were to be seen as wells as lots of surf and
white-wing scoters. An odd bird caught my eye and just as I got my
binoculars on it it dove (don't they always). Once it came back up I again
found it and was amazed to find it was a male long-tailed duck. Again, in
all the years I've been birding the north shore of Hood Canal I've never
seen a long-tailed duck on any part of the lower section. Lots of western
grebes were to be seen in this area also.

The rest of the drive home was uneventful except for two bald eagles sitting
in a snag in the fog over the Tahuya River (I took the scenic, long way
home). Lots of buffleheads and couple western and horned grebes rounded out
the aquatic bird life at the bridge.

Now the groceries and I are safely home and enjoying the calling of varied
thrush in the local yards and woods. Amazing how their call carries.

Mary Hrudkaj
Belfair/N. Mason County

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