Hi Tweeters,



I went birding today in the Port Townsend region with Jim Pruske.? The rain held off until about noon, but there was a very stiff breeze along the coast the whole time.? The rain never came down too hard while we birded; just a constant drizzle to remind us that we were in Washington.? Here are a few of the highlights:



Oyster Bay Estuary:? Just a quick stop revealed several DUNLIN and BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER.



George Adams Salmon Hatchery: AMERICAN DIPPER, including one that we watched for several minutes looking for food in the stream.? Also seen were 2 HERMIT THRUSHES.? As an aside, I saw 2 others on the trail to Woodard Bay yesterday with my daughter.



Point Hudson, Port Townsend:? We arrived just after high tide.? The usual large flock of BLACK TURNSTONES were on the rotting pier.? Interspersed with them were numerous DUNLIN, a few SANDERLINGS, and 1 SURFBIRD.? The water was very choppy and the wind was really gusting and not much was out there.? We did manage to spot 1 COMMON LOON, several PIGEON GUILLEMOT, 1 BONAPARTE'S GULL, 1 MARBLED MURRLET, and Jim thought he saw 1 RHINOCEROS AUKLET.



Point Wilson, Port Townsend:? We arrived a little after 11:00.? The birding was very slow compared to a month ago.? I only saw 1 very distant flock of 5 ANCIENT MURRELET, several mostly pairs of equally distant MARBLED MURRELET, several PIGEON GUILLEMOT, most of which were transitioning into their breeding plumage, 3 HARLEQUIN DUCK, and a nice surprise of 2 BLACK SCOTER pretty close to shore.



Kah Tai Lagoon:? a flock of 40+ RUDDY DUCK, many of the drakes' bills were blue at the base.



Wetlands at the entrance to Marrowstone Island:? 7 GREATER YELLOWLEGS still in their crisp white winter plumage.



Fort Flagler spit:? This was the most productive stop of the day.? As one is walking from the beginning of the spit toward its tip, looking north (to the right), not far from the distant yellow buoy, we spotted a flock of 15 LONG-TAILED DUCK (the largest flock that I have ever seen).? They would all dive nearly simultaneously and pop up again after a short while nearly in unison.? We also spotted more than 20 HARLEQUIN DUCK, most at the end of the spit (6 swam right up to Jim allowing for great photos), mostly at the leaward tip of Rat Island, where the current looked very strong; several dozen BRANT, a few dozen BLACK TURNSTONE and BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER (most of the latter on Rat Island), lots of DUNLIN, a smaller number of SANDERLING, and 2 SURFBIRDS at the very end of the spit.? There was also 1 COMMON LOON.? We also counted more than 50 HARBOR SEALS in the water, all with their heads sticking out and watching us, not too far from shore.? I felt like making a speech.



Now I'm going to sit in front of the fire and defrost.



Lonnie Somer

Olympia, WA

wheelermombi at comcast.net