Hey Tweeterlanders,

Sorry for a slightly delayed report.

On friday I had to be in downtown Seattle and had time to do some birding on the way back to Gig Harbor.

First stop was Kent. At Boeing Ponds, in addition to at least 4 broods each of Mallards and Canadas, I watched a pair of Coots on nest. I am not sure if there were eggs (why would one bird always stay on the nest if they were still just constructing it?), but one bird would approach with a piece of grassy nesting material as the one on the nest left. It would add the material to the nest and then hop on top until it's partner returned, and the cycle was repeated.

At Dumas Bay the shore was pretty quiet except for crows, gulls and 3 Bald Eagles, which the crows delighted in chasing. There was one adult, one almost adult (lots of dark brown in the white head and tail), and one juvie. I have done the Puget Sound Seabird Survey the last two winters at Dumas, and it was weird being there in warmth and sunshine and the tide being pretty far out. Walking back up the trail I heard some squeaking coming from a tree. I waited about 2 minutes until a female Hairy Woodpecker landed and fed a good sized youngun that still had down on its head (all it would stick out).

At Dash Point I watched a couple of Chestnut-backed Chickadees going in and out of a hole in a snag next to the parking lot.

Last stop was Brown's Point to look for the Marbled Murrelets reported by Shep Thorp. I had missed them in choppy seas on thursday. On friday under sunny skies anc fairly calm waters, I found 5 about 200 feet off the south (Tacoma) side. They were mostly sunning and preening. Just north of the point and only 100 feet off, were 2 more fishing (successfully).



Jeff Cohen

Gig Harbor

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