Subject: [Tweeters] Skagit Ancient Murrelets
Date: Nov 14 20:20:51 2009
From: Gary Bletsch - garybletsch at yahoo.com


Dear Tweeters,

After quite a few searches over the past several weeks, I was able to get some very good looks at Ancient Murrelets today at Washington Park in Anacortes. Off Green Point, Jordan Gunn spotted a flock of seven. These birds soon flew and swam quite close to shore. We were able to verify that, yes, Ancients Murrelets do fly with less rocking back and forth than Marbled Murrelets.

Professor Doctor Marzluff happened by with his U.W. ornithology class; I think that most of the students got to see the Ancient Murrelets.

We also got to hear the Ancients. I don't recall having heard them before. I would liken their vocalizations to the sound made by two pieces of styrofoam (the kind they use to make cheap coolers) rubbing together--higher in pitch than the call of the Marbled Murrelets, which were close by and calling, also. Most of the calls made by the Ancients were four-syllable efforts, "k'squeer, k'squeer!"

Although I never saw more than seven at one time, I think there may have been fourteen or more Ancients out there. The flock of seven broke up, with singles, twos, and threes swimming about. Later on, a flock of seven birds was spotted far out; I think those were seven additional birds.

Earlier in the day, at Rosario Head, I got to hear another species that I don't remember ever hearing before. A Red-throated Loon, quite close to shore, was giving a peculiar mewing call, sort of catlike and gull-like at the same time, a plaintive, descending "kree'err-err."

It has been interesting to observe the change of composition of flocks of seabirds off Skagit County the last few weeks. Only a week ago, there were still quite a few Heermann's Gulls and a few Bonies left. On Wednesday, I saw only one Heermann's Gull, and zero Bonies. Today, the only gulls I saw in five or six hours of seabirding were Glaucous-winged and Mew.

At March Point today, I saw a single Black Turnstone at the usual pier. There were about ten Oldsquaw off the point. A single Pied-billed Grebe was out there catching fish with the Red-breasted Mergansers, Horned Grebes, and other saltwater birds. Today was the first time this season that I saw Greater Scaup and Common Goldeneyes at March Point.

Yours truly,


Gary Bletsch ? Near Lyman, Washington (Skagit County), USA ? garybletsch at yahoo.com ? ?

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