Hello, tweets.

Netta Smith and I spent the last two days on the north side of the
Olympic Peninsula. That's a great colony of Glaucous-winged Gulls on
that island, if you want to view them from a boat. Little downy
chicks walking down to the water to bathe, then running back up to
the safety of the grass when the adults give them what for (as our
kayak approaches). There were also good numbers (30+) of Caspian
Terns, Heermann's Gulls (ca 50) and Harlequin Ducks (ca 50) roosting
there and a pair of Black Oystercatchers that chased the Whimbrels
away just as I was trying to photograph them (I've always liked
oystercatchers before that).

Not much migrant activity there; the only migrant shorebirds we saw
closely were two Whimbrels on the little island just north of Indian
Island (from kayak) today, 18 July. There were also distant
dowitchers in breeding plumage in Dungeness Bay, but we decided not
to kayak there this morning, as there was heavy fog and a
surprisingly strong wind (even though there was no wind a half-mile
inland, where it was sunny and 10? warmer!).

I was really impressed by the numbers of Eurasian Collared-Doves in
the Dungeness area. We saw 9 of them on wires at 6 different
localities today. They have really been successful there, and I guess
that represents optimal habitat. I've not seen them any more common
in some of the southern states where they have been established for a
much longer time.

Another interesting thing was the abundance of "white" Glaucous-
winged Gulls. At Dungeness (one) and Ediz Hook (a bunch), we saw
about 10 gulls that any of us might have called Glaucous Gulls at a
distance. Then coming closer, it seemed much more likely that all
were very worn first-year Glaucous-wings with black bills in which
most of the body plumage and wings and tail were essentially white.
Looking more closely, we could see that these same feathers were very
worn-looking in most of them. Most of them had newly molted gray
scapulars, considerably darker than the rest of the plumage. It may
be that one or more were hybrid Glaucous-winged x Glaucous, but I
wasn't convinced of that. We photographed all of them. I have never
seen so many white immature Glaucous-winged on one day, but I guess
this is the time of year to see them.
-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net



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