Subject: [Tweeters] No Steller's Eider, but Edmonds good
Date: Oct 1 11:34:43 2006
From: Eugene and Nancy Hunn - enhunn323 at comcast.net


Tweets,

We spotted the Bletch group with their forest of scopes from Brad Waggoner's
boat at Edmonds. Likewise we could find nothing resembling an eider around
(and we did not see the Forster's Tern) but we relocated the Red Phalarope
with a flock of a couple hundred Red-necked Phalaropes off Jefferson Head
across the sound from Richmond Beach. Got photos but could not herd it east
into King County though we tried.

There was a massive movement of ca. 3000 Bonaparte's Gulls ca. 9 AM off
Richmond Beach but they had all moved on south a hour later, perhaps helped
along by a Peregrine Falcon. Great views of about half-a-dozen Parasitic
Jaegers harassing the flock. Despite our efforts we could pick out nothing
unusual amongst the Bonaparte's Gulls.

Gene Hunn.
18476 47th Pl. NE
Lake Forest Park, WA 98155
enhunn323 at comcast.net

----- Original Message -----
From: "Gary Bletsch" <garybletsch at yahoo.com>
To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Saturday, September 30, 2006 8:24 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] No Steller's Eider, but Edmonds good


> Dear Tweeters,
>
> Howard Armstrong and I tried for the reported
> Steller's Eider in Edmonds, with no luck. We spent
> perhaps four hours in the area, at the little
> Brackett's Landing park (only a stone's throw north of
> the ferry dock), and also at Water Street, a kilometer
> or so north, reached via Ninth [Street?].
>
> There were at least five Parasitic Jaegers in various
> different plumages, hundreds of Bonaparte's Gulls,
> thirty or more Common Terns, and a Forster's Tern. The
> Forster's kept returning to a pale, pink, ball-shaped
> buoy, more or less straight out from the little rocky
> point at Brackett's. Other gulls included
> Glaucous-winged, California, Heermann's, one Western,
> and a few Mew.
>
> Howard and I were struck by the difference between the
> birds here and up in Skagit, where Ring-billeds are
> dominating now, and Bonaparte's, terns, and jaegers
> few and far between.
>
> At Water Street we watched a Cooper's Hawk interact
> with crows for about fifteen minutes. Also there was a
> beautiful Pacific Loon in breeding plumage, an Anna's
> Hummingbird, and a Rhinoceros Auklet.
>
> There were not many ducks to see, except for a few
> dozen each of American Wigeon and Surf Scoter, but
> there were two Harlequin Duck drakes in the kelp. A
> lone Northern Pintail flew by at one point, and there
> was also an unidentified Anas duck way out in the bay,
> possibly a hen Gadwall, that we tried in vain to
> transform into an eider. We also spotted several
> birders in the area, including Marv Breece, who no
> doubt would concur that, despite the lack of any
> eiders, it was indeed a good day.
>
> Yours truly,
> Gary Bletsch
>
>
> Yours truly,
>
> Gary Bletsch
>
> near Lyman (Skagit County), Washington
>
> garybletsch at yahoo.com
>
>
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