Hello Tweets,

Today we ventured over to the Port Orchard area of Kitsap Co. in hopes of seeing the Yellow-billed Loon at Sinclair Inlet near Bremerton that we previously reported within the last week. We arrived at Ross Point at 11:30am,which is the location we observed the bird in all observations along S.R.166 approximately and 1 mile north of the Kitsap Marina. We scoped the open water of Sinclair Inlet west of the point,but were unable to locate the Yellow-billed Loon. We did notice a police boat patrolling the area surrounding the Naval Shipyard,but good numbers of Western Grebes were in the general area. Just as we were ready to leave at 12pm a single loon flew south fairly low over us and we immediately identified it as the Yellow-billed Loon by overall size and color along with the bird showing it's heavy ivory-colored bill. We focused on the bird as it stayed high flying to the south towards Gorst. As we watched the bird in our binoculars we noticed the bird veering to the right,then to the left then circling over Gorst 3 times before flying south more then continuing to the east over the forested hillside into low clouds. We watched the bird in flight for a total of 15 minutes and figured the bird might return to Sinclair Inlet,but we waited 5 more minutes and the bird never returned from the low clouds. It was quite a sight and our first time ever seeing a Yellow-billed Loon in flight,also we were pleased. Perhaps the bird flew towards Purdy in Pierce Co. or the Allyn area of Mason Co.,or the bird could be anywhere along Hood Canal south of Belfair. It is also very possible the bird could return to Sinclair Inlet,but given the time of year it would seem the bird would settle in an area and remain there,but also drift around too.

We returned to Ross Point at 3pm and scoped unsuccessfully for the Yellow-billed Loon in Sinclair Inlet,but this is not to deter any birders from continuing to look for the bird. In addition to looking for the Yellow-billed Loon we birded the Port Gamble-Point No Point region under very gloomy skies. Road conditions were good in all places,although slushy in just a few locations especially at Hansville. We didn't encounter too many species,but a few notables were observed. Our main highlight during this route was an immature NORTHERN SHRIKE in the open area just east of the Hansville Lighthouse,where it perched atop wires along the road as well as nearby bushes. Overall low numbers of waterbirds were present at all locations from the Salsbury Point County Park to Point No Point,so perhaps the feeding is better somewhere else. A list of a few additional highlights noted during the day included the following:

Red-throated Loon
1 off Point No Point

Eared Grebe
3 birds at Sinclair Inlet
1 bird at Port Gamble

Sharp-shinned Hawk
1 subadult at Port Gamble

Peregrine Falcon
1 bird flying north from Salsbury Point County Park towards Hood Head(Kitsap/Jefferson Cos.)

Black Turnstone
15 birds along S.R.166 south of Port Orchard

Marbled Murrelet
15 birds off Point No Point

Red-breasted Sapsucker
1 bird at Hansville


Mammal highlights of the day included 2 California Sea Lions and 1 River Otter off the Hansville Lighthouse.



Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
Fircrest,WA
godwit153 at msn.com