Encouraged by Michael Fleming's report on 1/14/06 we spent some time
this afternoon at Point Hudson north of the Port Townsend ferry
terminal.

There were probably 40-50 Ancient Murrelets that were mostly too far
out to get a good visual ID, but sometimes you can use behavior to help
sort things out. Bob Norton points this out on page 28 of A BIRDER'S
GUID TO WASHINGTON. "Marbled Murrelets are usually pairs and singles;
they and the other local alcids typically land on the water and then
dive." The Ancient ones, flying in groups of 6-20 are a lot less
subtle. They don't land, they crash all at once and are immediately
under water. It's as though someone took a handful of birds and threw
them at the water.

Pretty neat.

Larry and Leora Schwitters
Issaquah