Hello, tweets.

Netta Smith and I kayaked for a while around Dungeness Bay, on both
sides of Graveyard Spit and to the Dungeness River mouth this
afternoon at high tide. The expected shorebird roost proved
impossible to find, although we saw numerous Least and Western
Sandpipers flying around and a small flock of juvenile Sanderlings.
The most exciting sighting was an adult SABINE'S GULL in full
breeding plumage flying west across the bay and a dark immature
Peregrine flat-out chasing a dark Merlin, both of these sightings
right over our heads when the camera and telephoto lens were tucked
into a dry bag as we paddled in rough water. I had never seen one of
these falcons chasing the other, and it was a wonderful thing to see,
although very brief, as you might guess. They diverged soon after
passing us.

Another sighting of interest was a flock of about a dozen (Dusky)
Canada Geese; I didn't know they migrated down here that early. They
were separate from 50 or 60 (Great Basin) Canada Geese roosting in
another area. Of even more interest to me was the lack of Western
Gulls, which I always have seen there in small numbers and for which
I looked long and hard today in vain. The island off the Oyster House
where large numbers of gulls used to nest has been reduced to a thin
sliver, and I wonder where all those birds went. That might explain
the lack of Westerns and not even any very dark hybrids (there must
be some around, but I really was surprised at not seeing a single one
today). There were hundreds of Glaucous-wings and Californias and a
few Ring-bills and Heermann's in the large gull flocks at the river
mouth and on the spit, and we looked through them fairly thoroughly.
Also dozens of Caspian Terns, including a rather small number of
juveniles. We paddled right up to a Common Murre and could have
touched it, but we resisted and instead captured it as digital
images. Also, two flocks totaling 15 Rhino Auklets were off the tip
of Graveyard Spit, and small numbers of mature male and female Surf
Scoters seemed to have arrived for the winter (all could fly, thus
not molting).

We were tickled to see three immature Variegated Meadowhawks buzzing
the tops of the cars in the parking lot at Kingston as we waited for
the ferry. This is one of the two migratory dragonflies in Washington
(the other the Common Green Darner), and these were doubtless on
their way south. Vagrants in the parking lot!
-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net



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