Today, I led a group of 10 Puget Sound Seabird Survey volunteers to Fort
Flagler State Park and Point No Point. Weather threatened rain most of the
day but it never materialized to more than a drizzle, but it was still cool.
With the overcast skies and calm water, we had a great time checking out the
numerous species of birds that winter on Puget Sound.



Highlights: And astounding 295 MARBLED MURRELETS were scoped from the
lighthouse at Fort Flagler State Park (Marrowstone Point). We parked at the
gravel lot and walked along the beach around the point and scoped to the
west. There were at least these many Marbled Murrelets and likely more. Many
were in pairs but there were several rafts of 15-20; we could easily hear
their calls the entire time we were there. One flyby ANCIENT MURRELET
rounded out the five likely alcids, as well as all three loons, but the most
numerous species were the murrelets. Amazing! The YELLOW-BILLED LOON showed
well from the campground/beach access of Fort Flagler State Park (scoped
towards Port Townsend about mid-channel). Another 12 ANCIENT MURRELETS were
scoped mid-channel, as well as LONG-TAILED DUCK. We had another 77 Marbled
Murrelets and about 1,000 BONAPARTE?S GULLS at Point No Point.



Here are the species and numbers by location.



*Fort Flagler State Park (Marrowstone Point)*

*10:30am-11:50am*

Harlequin Duck (1)

Surf Scoter (4)

White-winged Scoter (1)

Bufflehead (6)

Common Goldeneye (7)

Red-breasted Merganser (11)

Red-throated Loon (1)

Pacific Loon (17)

Common Loon (3)

Horned Grebe (2)

Double-crested Cormorant (2)

Pelagic Cormorant (8)

Mew Gull (10)

Glaucous-winged Gull (3)

Common Murre (20)

Pigeon Guillemot (19)

Marbled Murrelet (295)

Ancient Murrelet (1)

Rhinoceros Auklet (17)



*Fort Flagler State Park (Campground/Beach Access)*

*12:12pm-1:20pm*

Brant (15 - another 145 inside bay)

Harlequin Duck (10)

Surf Scoter (27)

White-winged Scoter (3)

Long-tailed Duck (9)

Bufflehead (27)

Common Goldeneye (14)

Red-breasted Merganser (22)

Red-throated Loon (2)

Common Loon (5)

Yellow-billed Loon (1)

Horned Grebe (34)

Red-necked Grebe (7)

Brandt's Cormorant (20)

Double-crested Cormorant (3)

Pelagic Cormorant (30)

Bald Eagle (2)

Black-bellied Plover (44)

Black Oystercatcher (1)

Black Turnstone (15)

Sanderling (5)

Mew Gull (8)

California Gull (1)

Common Murre (1)

Pigeon Guillemot (10)

Marbled Murrelet (5)

Ancient Murrelet (12)

Common Raven (1)

Pacific Wren (1)



*Point No Point*

*2:55pm-4:00pm*

Surf Scoter (1)

White-winged Scoter (1)

Bufflehead (8)

Common Goldeneye (2)

Common Merganser (2)

Red-breasted Merganser (16)

Red-throated Loon (4)

Pacific Loon (3)

Horned Grebe (2)

Red-necked Grebe (6)

Western Grebe (5)

Double-crested Cormorant (8)

Pelagic Cormorant (10)

Dunlin (50)

Bonaparte's Gull (1000)

Mew Gull (80)

Glaucous-winged Gull (18)

Common Murre (21)

Pigeon Guillemot (10)

Marbled Murrelet (77)

Rhinoceros Auklet (10)

Western Scrub-Jay (2)

Pacific Wren (1)

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