Tweets,

Six of us enjoyed an all day Black Hills Audubon Society Field Trip co-led
by myself and Ruth Sullivan from Olympia to Port Townsend on Saturday.
Three of us left Olympia at 7:00 AM, stopped at the 6th Ave Park and Ride in
Tacoma to pick up Ruth and the others and headed over the Narrows Bridge.

Our first stop was behind Toys in Gorst where we observed HOODED
MERGANSERS, AMERICAN WIGEON, BUFFLEHEAD, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, GREATER YELLOWLEGS,
DUNLIN, NORTHER PINTAIL, MALLARD, SURF SCOTER, COMMON GOLDENEYE, MEW,
RING-BILLED, AND GLOUCOUS -WINGED GULLS, GREAT BLUE HERON AND BALD EAGLES as well
as DOUBLE-CREASTED CORMORANT flying by.

At Salsbury Point County Park the only thing we saw was a couple of HORNED
GREBE due to extreme wind and choppy condition on the canal.
Unfortunately, the wind would persist the rest of the day.

At Oak Bay we again had to fight wind but did manage to see more PINTAIL,
WIGEON, BUFFLEHEAD, and HORNED GREBES as well as COMMON LOON. We also saw a
HARBOR SEAL and the BLACK OYSTERCATCHERS that Ruth already posted. We also
saw BLACK TURNSTONES, HARLEQUIN DUCKS and RED-BREASTER MERGANSERS.

On the way to Marrowstone Island we saw 4 GREATER YELLOWLEGS and a
LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER. We also saw a small flock of GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROWS in
the area. We also saw more PINTAIL and MALLARDS in the protected waters.

At Marrowstone Island we picked up BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER, PALAGIC CORMORANT,
and SANDERLING.

At the gun emplacements we picked up our best group of passerines that
included SONG SPARROW, FOX SPARROW, HOUSE FINCH, BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE, ROBIN,
and FLICKER.

At Port Hudson we saw a couple of MARBLED MURRELETS and a very cooperative
COMMON MURRE that posed for photos just inside the breakwater. We also saw
our only RHINOCEROUS AUCKLET of the trip and many DUDLIN and BLACK
TURNSTONES hunkered down in the breakwater keeping out of the wind.

Our last stop of the day was at Kah Tai Lagoon in Port Townsend where we
saw RUDDY DUCKS, GREATER SCAUP, and more HOODED MERGANSERS, WIGEON ,
MALLARDS, and PINTAIL, as well as a couple more GREAT BLUE HERON.

All told we saw 58 species. Our misses included LONG-TAILED DUCK and the
ANCIENT MURRELET that has been seen recently in the Port Townsend area.

It took a while to thaw out but it was a very good day in spite of the
weather.

I'm sure Ruth will have a couple more things to add that I missed but
that's OK.



Phil Kelley
scrubjay323 at aol.com
Lacey, WA
360-459-1499