Hi Tweets,



My wife and I headed down to the Edmonds waterfront this morning to check
out some of the winter visitors. Both Western and Horned Grebes abounded,
and we spotted a few Red-Necked Grebes in the mix as well. Cormorants of
both the Double-Crested and Brandt's varieties were seen having some fishing
success just off the pier, and a few Barrows Goldeneyes were seen
fraternizing with Buffleheads and Surf Scoters just south of the ferry.
Glaucous-winged, Western and Bonaparte's Gulls were seen in the area as
well.



Edmonds Marsh was fairly quiet except for a group of 16 Great Blue Herons
that were hunkered down against the chilling wind, and a single Winter Wren
that scolded us from the bushes.



The highlight of the day was a very close encounter with about 10 Surf
Scoters on the rock jetty at Brackett's Landing. The birds were only about
10 feet away, diving and resurfacing with various bits of food in their
bills. They put on an excellent show for about 15 minutes before moving on.
I managed to get a few photos of the scoters which I have placed on my
website here: http://leaningcedarstudio.com/_gii/photogalleries.htm They
are in the "Ducks and Geese II" gallery.



I also updated my wife's website this weekend and uploaded several of her
new paintings including a Western Grebe and a pair of Goldeneyes. If you'd
like to check those out, they can be found here:
http://www.leaningcedarstudio.com/galleries.htm in the "Birds of Water"
gallery.



Kevin Mack

Edmonds, Wa