Five birders met at the I-405 Exit 9 P&R and one person met us at the Des Moines Marina for this ELWAS regular fourth Monday field trip which happened to be Christmas Eve day. At the P&R we saw a RED-TAILED HAWK perched on the nest north of the parking area. Some BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES & BUSHTITS were in nearby trees. It was cool and windy to start, but had sunshine later in the morning. At the marina there were large numbers of SURF SCOTERS and DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTs, a few WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS, HORNED & RED-NECKED GREBEs, COMMON & BARROW'S GOLDENEYE, and a BALD EAGLE. At the Des Moines Beach Park area, there were two MALLARDS at the mouth of the creek, AMERICAN ROBINs & NORTHERN FLICKERs in the trees and a BELTED KINGFISHER flew over. We stopped next at an access through an apartment complex where we saw more of the same water birds and added a GREATER SCAUP. Then we went to the stairway access at the foot of 239th Ave. Among the houses before getting to the stairway !
we saw DARK-EYED JUNCOs, HOUSE FINCH, WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWs and we can't forget the HOUSE SPARROWs and EUROPEAN STARLINGs. From the stairway deck we got even better views of the same water ducks in the sunshine, but also saw one female BLACK SCOTER, and two more Bald Eagles. Our last stop was at Saltwater State Park where there were again many of the same water birds. New species seen were a couple of PELAGIC CORMORANTs and a flock of 15 BLACK TURNSTONEs. They looked beautiful as they flew back and forth over the water showing their striking black & white markings on the upper wings before landing on the shoreline almost in front of us. They were splashing water all over while taking baths in the outflow of the creek. A wonderful climax to a good morning of birding that resulted in 34 species.

Hugh Jennings
Bellevue, WA
hughbirder at earthlink dot net