Tweeters,

I headed up to the Point Wilson Light in Port Townsend to look for Yellow-billed loons. Beautiful day, and I had the pleasure of meeting some of the local crew. Friendly bunch, and they had all sorts of great insights into the birds of the area. None of the birds listed below is going to be a surprise for anyone familiar with the area, but might be helpful for visitors like me.

On the sides of the point there were:

Horned Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Pelagic Cormorant
Brandt?s Cormorant
Double Crested Cormorant
Brant
Mallard
Harlequin
Long-tailed Duck
Surf Scoter
Black Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Common Goldeneye
Barrow?s Goldeneye
Bufflehead
Red-breasted Merganser
Bald Eagle
Merlin
Black Turnstone
Sanderling
Dunlin (with a single odd ?peep? mixed in- never got a good look)
Mew Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Confusing Hybrid Gulls
Common Murre (in both basic and alternate plumages)
Pigeon Guillemot (in both basic and alternate plumages)
Rhino Auklet
Marbled Murrelet (in large numbers)
Ancient Murrelet (really good looks!)

Harbor Seal
Steller?s Sealion

And as for loons- Red-throated, Pacific, and Common Loons were all in the area, as well as a single....mystery. At a distance, a LARGE loon was displaying some of the behavioral characteristics that the locals said were the same as the Yellow-billed Loon that had spent previous winters in the area. These included splashing as it dove, in contrast to the Common Loons nearby. Despite my best attempts to get to a better viewpoint, I never got a look that was good enough to make a solid ID. Looks like I?ll have to spend some more time out at this beautiful spot!

Cheers,

SM