Hi All: There was one adult Heermann's this morning on the old dock roost at Tahlequah (S. end of Vashon Island). Usually a few show up in the south sound in Oct-Nov, but this is the earliest I have seen one. Also 50-100 California gulls, depending on the tide and scattered Bonaparte's Gulls and Caspian Terns in abundance.

Yesterday I participated in an educational/birding program for the Foss Maritime Museum on the 65' Indigo cruiser. We cruised past Pt Defiance, down the Narrows then back past Tahlequah, Brown's Point, then the log booms along Marine View Drive. Heading back to the dock at low tide, about 2:30 pm, we passed the mouth of the Puyallup River and there were 2000+ California gulls, Caspian Terns, Bonaparte's, DC cormorants and GW & hybrid gulls roosting on the exposed flat. An amazing number of birds given the few we saw on the cruise.

Gary Shugart, Slater Museum, Univ Puget Sound, Tacoma & Vashon Island