Tweets,

I tried to leave the message on the BirdBox but it came through all broken up.

I did a seabird survey at West Point in Discovery Park this morning between 10 AM and Noon in hopes the storm might have brought something in, such as the Short-tailed Shearwater reported yesterday off Richmond Beach and the kittiwake reported on Vashon. No luck with those but there was a lot of action off the point.

Most interesting if somewhat inconclusive at this point was a single murrelet, apparently all black above and clean white below, seeming a bit more slender proportioned than an Ancient. I saw it four times flying in 10x binocs and at 25x in my scope with excellent overcast lighting, at the closest perhaps two hundred yards off the point. I could see no contrast between the black back, nape and crown and certainly no white scapulars. I saw Ancients here just last Saturday at comparable distances and had no problem seeing the crown to back contrast, as well as the black chins on the Ancients. The division between above and below on this bird appeared clean-cut from the bill back. I could not get a clear view of the underwing.

On the first pass the bird flew in from the north, then angled directly away and landed about 500 feet offshore but disappeared before I could get it in the scope. A short while later what I prresume was the same bird flew past the point headed back north, making its closest approach. About 30 minutes later it (I presume the same bird) came flying back from the north but more like 500 yards offshore and landed near where it had landed before. It didn't dive immediately but by the time I got to the scope it was gone. Ten minutes later I saw it (again, peresumably the same bird) flying south well offshore, and out of sight.

It is perhaps of interest that a Xantus's Murrelet was collected off Copalis Beach on 6 December 1941 (Wahl, Tweit, and Mlodinow 2005:200). While Craveri's can't be entirely ruled out, it is less likely and should have shown a dark half collar which was not apparent on this bird.

Also noted were at least 20 Harbor Porpoises, a good southerly migration of Red-throated Loons, good numbers of Common Murres and Rhinoceros Auklets, Brant, Bonaparte's Gulls, and Brandt's Cormorants.

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