Three of us, in two different sightings, saw a Cassin's Auklet in
Edmonds waters on October 18th. There was one again this morning off
the public pier. I went down about 9 a.m. The rain was steady but
there was little wind to speak of so viewing conditions were pretty
decent. There weren't too many birds about but off to the south of
the pier I noticed a black dot on the water. When I put the scope on
it, I could tell it was an auklet although too small to be a
Rhinoceros Auklet. I could not see the white eyebrow at the distance
but the rounded head and slender, smaller bill were noteworthy. I
watched the bird for about half an hour while it preened on the
surface, rolling on its side, spreading its wings, and spinning in
circles. From every angle the head continued to be rounded with a
small bill. It did not have the flat head and larger bill of the
Rhinoceros Auklet. There were Rhinos in the area and this auklet was
just quite a bit smaller, more the size of a Marbled Murrelet. I
went home to warm up and make a call. I met up with Steve Pink back
on the pier about 11 a.m. We scanned the waters for quite a while
but could not relocate the bird.

Carol Riddell
Edmonds