Heide,

This may best be answered by somebody involved with the Puget Sound Seabird
Project. I think all of us birding around the sound, have noticed a decline
of most species. I most often bird from Dash Point Dock and for example did
not see a single Common Murre this winter. Loons, Grebes, Cormorants,
Buffleheads seem to be in normal numbers, however Scoters, Goldeneyes and
Rhinoceros Auklet numbers appear to be way down. There seems to be a
shortage of food supply preferred by certain species.

Hans Feddern
Twin Lakes/Federal Way, WA.
thefedderns at gmail.com

On Thu, Mar 18, 2010 at 5:50 PM, Jim Greaves <lbviman at blackfoot.net> wrote:

> Can't answer for your area, but here in NW Montana, at least where I live,
> for several weeks, we've had double the number of BAGO that we had the past
> several winters, out-numbering COGO by 3 to 1 or more [ at 75-100 BAGO counted
> last week on the small lake at Thompson Falls] - we've had open water on
> most lowland lakes throughout western MT since middle of February. Past two
> winters, we had mostly frozen lakes until April. Thus, there may be regional
> "shifts" by the birds themselves in response to the open water, unrelated to
> "normal" or "abnormal" population dynamics - and perhaps also unrelated to
> wildlife agency limits on which ducks are off limits to hunt in particular
> year(s) in order to allow their numbers to recover from the myriad pressures
> they may face - Jim Greaves
>
>
> At 01:03 PM 3/18/2010, tweeters-request at mailman2.u.washington.edu wrote:
>
>> Hi All,
>>
>> I've been birdwatching at Burien's Seahurst Park since 1999. Over the
>> years I've noticed a significant decline in the number of Barrow's Golden
>> Eyes and other waterfowl (Surf Scoters, Common Merganers, etc.). There
>> used to be hundreds of Barrow's Goldeneyes now I'm lucky if I see three.
>> Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon? Is their a disease affecting
>> Barrow's Goldeneyes? I understand that populations can fluctuate but this
>> downward trend doesn't seem to be abating. Any info much appreciated.
>> Thanks! :)
>>
>> Heidi Narte
>> Gregory Heights, Washington
>>
>
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