Hi Gary,

These were most likely Rhinoceros Auklets. They often appear all gray but
sometimes their light colored belly/vents are visible.

Marbled Murrelets would be all brown or generally dark above and white
below. And as long as I am speaking in generalizations, Marbled Murrelets
are usually seen in pairs while you often seen Rhinoceros Auklets in small
flocks. I have encountered Rhino Auklets more frequently than I do Marbled
Murrelets while scanning Puget Sound in Fall/Winter.

Adam



On Mon, Sep 13, 2010 at 9:35 AM, Gary Smith <gsmith at smithandstark.com>wrote:

> This morning about 7:15 I scoped a line of eight small, chunky,
> ?all-gray? alcids flying low over the water west of Alki Point, heading
> south. I looked for any pattern or signs of light coloration, but didn?t
> see any. They were at about ? mile out, and the cloud cover was putting a
> gray cast on everything, so I?m not dead certain they were gray, but they
> were at least darkish all over. It seems to me that the most likely choice
> would be Marbled Murrelets. I?ve seen singles and occasionally doubles here
> this time of year, but never a group of this size, and I would expect them
> to be showing transition to basic plumage by now. I haven?t seen Cassin?s
> Auklets here before but they seem like a better fit to what I saw. Do they
> fly like this? Groups? Likelihood? Some other species? I?d love to have
> more expert opinion. Thanks.
>
>
>
>
>
> Gary T. Smith
>
> Alki Point, West Seattle
>
>
>
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>
>


--
Adam Sedgley
S e a t t l e, WA
sedge.thrasher [at] gmail [dot] com
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