Tweeters:

Anne Winskie and I were back at Graysmarsh yesterday,
opting for this date over June 25 owing to reports that
there was still some lingering water in the marsh. This
proved false, but the birding turned out good anyway.
Oddly enough, the best birding began mid-afternoon.
We had 94 species for the day, less than a May or Sep-
-tember migration survey, but above a typical CBC at
Grays.

No two survey days are the same, and despite all the
continuity and predictability, it seems there's always
something unexpected. The theme this year was very
late migration--as others on Tweeters have noted. Yes,
passerines were still very much in passage. Another
strange event was that the best migrant birding was
associated with a worsening of the weather--with south
light wind and rain moving in at about 5 pm--go figure.
Darker, wetter, and they all jump out.

Relatively close in, looking off the bluff trail, I picked out
a winter-plumaged YELLOW-BILLED LOON. It was easy to
see at about 3:45, but when Anne joined me about a half
hour later the bird was much further out, although you
could still make out the yellow terminal half of the bill and
upward posture of the bill and head, among others. There
are not alot of summer records in recent years, but I do
recall a Dungeness Spit bird in June about eight years ago.
The last viewing of the bird was more in the direction of
Protection Island, where our Christmas Count boat party
has had great luck finding the species over the last decade.

At about 4-4:10 pm, I also picked out a imm. HORNED
PUFFIN far out, near the many RHINOS typical here. This
bird was quite a distance even through the scope, but I
stayed with it and was able to note a wider bill than Rhino,
with a bit of red and (once) got a hint of white patch on the
face. I was tempted to go with imm. TUFTED PUFFIN, but
when the bird twice lifted to flap its wings, a clean
demarcation between black neck/head--and pure white
breast and belly--was diagnostic. This bird was seen looking
in the direction of Diamond Point, in fact it was about 200
yards due north of the central Miller Peninsula. Inner Puget
Sound encounters with this species are really few, but I do
recall that Skagit County's only bird was also in June.

OTHER GRAYSMARSH HIGHLIGHTS, JUNE 12

Pacific Loon 1 (late)
Surf Scoter 9 (late)
Red-breasted Merganser 2 (late)
Eurasian Collared-Dove 10 (rapid increase, expanding into
property well past Wilcox edge)

--the 5 regular wWA flycatchers (70 individuals),
record-highs for W. Wood-Pewee (24), Olive-sided (10),
two northbound Hammond's still present. Also at
least two out-of-normal habitat passing Willows

--the 8 regular wWA warblers, but surprise of 21 Wilson's
Warblers, clearly most of which were migrants (species
is scarce breeder at Grays), also a couple Yellows in
non-breeding habitat

Good counts for W. Tanager (11) and BH Grosbeak (11)

Scott Atkinson
Lake Stevens
mail to: scottratkinson at hotmail.com