I imagine they must be everywhere, and I just hadn't noticed them until I re- familiarized myself with their chunky shape and call, but it seems like they're popping out of the woodwork. I had a pair fly in from the Strait of Juan de Fuca in Sekiu about a monthe ago, just after seeing my first one in the county at Dungeness Spit, and finally got my yard Collared Dove this weekend with a flyover bird accompanying 2 Mourning Doves. Is this the pattern everywhere??
Also, I haven't tallied the numbers from our Port Angeles survey yet, but we had at least 150 Marbled Murrelets, 2,500 Rhinos, around 100 Cassin's Auklets and 10 or so Ancient Murrelets, many of these birds within scoping distance of Ediz Hook. Our Sequim/ protection Island survey today contrastingly had only a fraction of these birds, but did include my first Cassin's Auklet in this area, since I see my lifer From the Dungeness Spit park in 1997.
Good Birding,
Drew Wheelan
Port Angeles, WA
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