Hi Tweets,

I was at the Elwha River mouth and also at Tongue Point yesterday.
The temperature was mild, the sea was glassy, and there was no wind.
I scoped the gulls carefully at the Elwha and found no unusual ones.
There were Mew, Herring, Glaucous-winged, one Western, and some
hybrids. Harlequin Ducks and six Black Oystercatchers were a delight
to see. Other birds included Common Loon, Bufflehead, Red-necked
Grebe, Pied-billed Grebe, American Wigeon, Gadwall, Mallard, Great
Blue Heron, Common Goldeneye, Red-breasted Merganser, Surf Scoter and
Crow. I hesitate to say that they were Northwestern Crows as we have
heard from John Marzluff that they simply have been hybridized or
displaced by the American Crow (can't remember which). Our Strait of
Juan de Fuca beach crows just look and act somewhat different to me,
but I'm obviously not in a position to do a DNA study on the beach!
Whichever they were, they were there. I walked Place Road looking
for small birds but it was very quiet. There were more
Oystercatchers at Tongue Point and some White-winged Scoters flew
by. The tent campground at the Clallam County park is closed right
now. A lot of maples and other trees came down in the wind storms.
It looks as if clean-up is moving right along. I suspect it will be
open again for spring.

Carol Riddell
Edmonds