Hello All,
Bruce LaBar and I did the Sequim-Dungeness CBC today on a 37-foot sailboat along with Mike Crim and his friends who own the boat, and Jan who helped take down notes. We covered 22 miles of water between Dungeness Spit and Protection Island in fairly good conditions.
The best bird was a THICK-BILLED MURRE in alternate plumage about three miles west of Protection Island. The bird sat duck-like next to the boat, only 10 meters from us. Fantastic, leisurely views!
We also had two adult Yellow-billed Loons in around the same area of open water. One bird had some scattered alternate feathers and allowed us to approach extremely closely.
Ancient Murrelets were pretty scarce, with only about 80 birds. Oddly, Bufflehead was perhaps the most numerous bird, with over 1600 counted. I don't recall those concentrations out there in past years.
That's all for now,
Charlie Wright
Bonney Lake, Washington.