Hi Tweets -
I spent the morning up around the King / Snohomish County line,
watching the Sound for fall birds and winter returnees. It wasn't
overly birdy, but a few nice passers-by included:

Parasitic Jaegers - 2 [seen at the Richmond Beach Park]
Brown Pelican - 2 [moving south past county line -- might have been
headed to Shilshole Marina....]
Whimbrel - 1 at Richmond Beach Park along the beach
Common Murres - large groups have been sitting off-shore here for a
week or longer -
probably over 100 today
Pigeon Guillemots & Rhino Auklets - in much lower numbers comparatively.

Heerman's Gulls in big numbers

"Winter" birds that were around included -

Horned Grebes - several pairs
Western Grebes - 6-10
White-winged Scoters - a couple
Surf Scoters - 10+
Harlequin Ducks -7-8

That white cockatiel reported by Grace & Ollie Oliver was at both the
Park & the county line throughout the morning - if it helps in the
id, it seemed to have a reddish instead of yellow spot on its face...

Good birding,


Matt Bartels
Seattle, WA