Subject: [Tweeters] Pilchuck AS Bird Trip
Date: Jan 29 11:54:10 2006
From: Carol Riddell - cariddell at earthlink.net


Eight members of Pilchuck Audubon Society headed for Jefferson and
Clallam Counties Saturday on a birding trip organized by Susie
Schaefer. Total birds species count for the day was 68. We caught
the 7:55 a.m. Edmonds ferry to Kingston with our first stop at Port
Gamble. We then took Beaver Valley Road (SR 19) to Chimacum and
backtracked several miles on Center Road to look for Trumpeter Swans
that Martha Jordan had said we would find. After having found the
swans we backtracked through Chimacum and stopped at Port Hadlock to
check out the lower reaches of Port Townsend (the bay). The next
stops were Mystery Bay State Park and Fort Flagler on Marrowstone
Island. Then off to Port Townsend (the city) for stops at Kah Tai
Nature Park and Point Wilson at Fort Worden. We the headed south on
Highway 20, picked up Highway 101 at the lower reach of Discovery Bay
and made our last birding stops for the day at the John Wayne Marina
on Sequim Bay, at Port Willilams just outside of Sequim Bay, and at 3
Crabs to see what would come in on the exposed mud flats. Mark
Freed, Pilchuck's long-time program coordinator and current Sequim
resident, joined us at our Sequim area stops and then invited us back
to his home to warm up and visit with him and his wife, Rosemary.
Friendships were renewed and fingers and toes were warmed in front of
the wood stove. We encountered few rain drops and no strong winds so
it was a successful winter outing.

Trumpeter Swans were found in small numbers both near Chimacum on the
Quimper Peninsula and near Port Williams outside of Sequim. Evening
Grosbeaks were seen near the tourist information center parking lot
just as you turn onto Beaver Valley Road from SR 104. The boat
launch at Fort Flagler was the most productive stop. There were
adult and immature Bald Eagles, Brant, Black-bellied Plover, Dunlin,
Black Turnstone, Sanderling, good numbers of Pacific Loon, both
Common and Barrow's Goldeneye, Red-breasted Merganser, Double-crested
and Pelagic Cormorant, Surf Scoter, and Harlequin Duck. We found
Long-tailed Ducks at both Port Townsend from Fort Flagler and at Port
Williams. We picked up White-winged Scoter and Brandt's Cormorant at
Point Wilson. One Pacific Golden Plover was seen at 3 Crabs. Our
only Bonaparte's Gull and Black Scoter were seen first thing in the
morning at the Edmonds ferry dock. For all of our searching, we did
not find a Rhinoceros Auklet anywhere and we did not observe any
Eurasian Wigeons or Red-throated Loons.

Good birding,
Carol Riddell
Edmonds