Hi Tweets,



Nine participants made this Seattle Audubon field trip with leaders Barbara and Paul Webster. The weather featured temperatures in the 40s and rain on the trip north, but only a shower at Rosario Head and light rain at Dugualla Bay. Weather improved as the day progressed, with scattered clouds and sunshine after 2:00 p.m.



At Pass Lake there was a good assortment of ducks; but the big surprise here was an American Dipper on the shoreline, bobbing up and down as it picked insects from organic debris. At the Rosario Beach unit of Deception Pass State Park we found a good assortment of bay ducks, cormorants, loons, grebes, and alcids. Despite a squall we managed to spot 10 Red-throated Loons from Rosario Head despite a rain shower. We also saw Red-necked and Western Grebes, Surf Scoters, and Common Murres. The passerines were mostly inactive, probably because of the bad weather and the early hour.



Our first Island County stop was short: rainy, breezy, and chilly Dugualla Bay. We continued on to City Beach Park in Oak Harbor, getting the normal "park birds" plus 3 Sanderlings, 3 Black Turnstones, and spent a couple of minutes watching with morbid fascination as a Bald Eagle consumed the remains of what judging from the legs may have been a Pigeon Guillemot. On the western side of the island we checked Bos Lake and scoped the waters to the west from the Bos Lake overlook and had lunch at Libbey Beach County Park. Here we found Surf Scoters, Western and Horned Grebes, a single White-winged Scoter, and 9 Long-tailed Ducks, 4 Harlequin Ducks, and enjoyed knock-out views of 7 Red-throated Loons foraging in the surf below us, some at times less than 50 yards away. Next we went to Coupeville for coffee (this was a Seattle Audubon field trip, after all) and estimated 100+ Surf Scoters, and 700+ Western Grebes in sunny Penn Cove.



At Crockett Lake we watched a fly-in of a dozen Dunlin accompanied by 2 Least Sandpipers. Across the lake we spotted a Peregrine Falcon and a Rough-legged Hawk - distant but good views in the late afternoon sunlight. On the near side of the lake were two Northern Harriers and a first-winter Red-tailed Hawk, all together a raptor concentration which might explain relatively small numbers of dabbling ducks.



At our final stop in Freeland County Park we saw few birds, perhaps because of "Northern Pinheads" with their unleashed dogs, though 5 Mew Gulls remained along the shore with the usual larger gulls. Then we caught the ferry to Mukilteo, ending a pretty good day with 64 total species:



1. Red throated Loon - at least 20 seen

2. Common Loon

3. Pied-billed Grebe - 2 at Pass Lake

4. Red-necked Grebe

5. Horned Grebe

6. Western Grebe - 740+ seen today

7. Double-crested Cormorant

8. Brandt's Cormorant

9. Pelagic Cormorant

10. Great Blue Heron

11. Canada Goose

12. Brant - 6 seen from ferry near Clinton

13. American Wigeon

14. Gadwall

15. Mallard

16. Northern Pintail

17. Northern Shoveler

18. Canvasback

19. Ring-necked Duck

20. Greater Scaup

21. Lesser Scaup

22. Harlequin Duck

23. Long-tailed Duck

24. Surf Scoter - altogether 160+ seen

25. White-winged Scoter

26. Common Goldeneye

27. Barrow's Goldeneye

28. Bufflehead

29. Hooded Merganser - 10 at Pass Lake

30. Red-breasted Merganser

31. Ruddy Duck - 15 at Bos Lake, 4 at Pass Lake

32. Bald Eagle - 9 seen at various sites

33. Northern Harrier - 2 at Bos Lake, 2 at Crockett Lake

34. Red-tailed Hawk

35. Rough-legged Hawk

36. Peregrine Falcon

37. Black Oystercatcher - 7 seen today

38. Black Turnstone

39. Sanderling

40. Least Sandpiper

41. Dunlin

42. Mew Gull

43. Glaucous-winged Gull

44. Bonaparte's Gull - 2 at Bowman Bay; 3 at Keystone

45. Common Murre - 4 at Deception Pass, 4 near Keystone

46. Pigeon Guillemot - 2 at Deception Pass, 6 in Penn Cove

47. Rhinoceros Auklet - 1 near Clinton

48. Belted Kingfisher

49. Red-breasted Sapsucker

50. Northern Flicker

51. Golden-crowned Kinglet

52. Ruby-crowned Kinglet

53. American Dipper - 1 at Pass Lake!

54. Bewick's Wren

55. Winter Wren

56. American Robin

57. Black-capped Chickadee

58. Brown Creeper

59. American Crow

60. European Starling

61. Song Sparrow

62. Red-winged Blackbird

63. Brewer's Blackbird - 20+ at Oak Harbor

64. House Sparrow



Paul Webster

Seattle

paul.websterATcomcast.net