Hello All,
Yesterday Bruce LaBar and his wife Merrian, Faye McAdams-Hands and I went
out on the tugboat Joe to count birds in Pierce County waters. We
did our normal route from Gig Harbor south to Ketron Island, up to Browns
Point, and back (totaling close to 50 miles) in ideal conditions. I don't have
the numbers with me but suffice to say we found great numbers of birds.
Highlights were a Cassin's Auklet way off Point Defiance in the middle of the pass
there, 42 Ancient Murrelets in the same area, small numbers of Long-tailed
Ducks, Black Scoters, Harlequin Ducks, Eared Grebes, etc. Bonaparte's and
Mew Gulls were found in excellent numbers. A single flock of Western Grebes
included around 700 birds, but was not approached closely enough to check
for Clark's. Unusual was a Pied-billed Grebe all alone in the middle of the sound;
perhaps its marsh froze over?

Cheers and good birding,
Charlie Wright
Bonney Lake, Washington