David,



Yet we're still trying to pin down where they might be nesting in King
County as the only positive record of actual nesting in the county that I
have heard of is Penny Rose's, which I believe was last summer, 2008. Brien
Meilleur checked out both Harbor Island, the lower Duwamish, and Smith
Cove/Interbay recently and found just a few adults with no evidence there of
nesting. In any case, keep an eye out.



Gene Hunn

18476 47th Pl NE Lake Forest Park

enhunn323 at comcast.net



From: David Hutchinson [mailto:flora.fauna at live.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 09, 2009 10:58 AM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu; enhunn323 at comcast.net
Subject:



Caspian Terns are a regular breeder in large numbers on spoil beds in the
Columbia River and in lesser numbers in Eastern Washington, in the Potholes
and a few other sites. There has apparently been considerable disruption to
the Columbia Tern Colonies recently as they feed on young
salmon.Traditionally, I believe, Caspian Terns have been a mid or late
summer visitor around Puget Sound. So I was quite struck by seeing a Caspian
Tern on the beach at West Point on what seemed the very early date of April
8,2009. A survey of Tweeters reports for the last few years shows that the
terns have arrived in small numbers in late April, being apparent at
Everett, Bellingham and Bremerton. However, this May both Brian Meilleur and
I have often seen the terns with fish in their bills heading south across
Elliott Bay. Ruth Taylor saw 150-200 Caspians at Harbor Island 05/06/09,
while Don McVay reported 40-50 Caspians on mud-flats at Smith Cove in
Magnolia 05/11/09, though they were not breeding. A few were reported on a
roof near Pier 91. In conversation, Penny Rose, one of the naturalists at
Discovery Park, told me that she had seen, a couple of years ago, perhaps
over 100 Caspian Terns nesting on a roof near Harbor Island under the old
bridge to West Seattle, together with Glaucous-winged Gulls. Thus they have
been a breeding species in Seattle for perhaps several years and it seems
probable that they will continue to be an opportunistic breeder, perhaps
with their numbers and the number of sites that they use continuing to grow.
DH
--
David Hutchinson, Owner
Flora & Fauna: Nature Books
Discovery Gardens: Native Plants
3212 W.Government Way
Seattle,WA.98199
http://www.ffbooks.net/
206-623-4727




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