Hi Tweets,

It was a blustery November morning (5-7-11) on the Edmonds waterfront,
despite the May date. I was assisting a friend with her May Birdathon
fundraiser so we went looking for Black Scoters, among others. We
started at Sunset Avenue and scoped from the ferry dock north to the
Shell Creek outlet, then went to the Water Street public access and
finished at the public pier south of the ferry dock. We found no Black
Scoters, no Red-breasted Mergansers, no Horned Grebes, and no Mew
Gulls. We did find many Brants, Canada Geese, many Surf Scoters,
Buffleheads, and one pair of Barrow's Goldeneye. A six-pack of Pacific
Loons was north of the underwater park, and both Red-necked and
Western Grebes were seen. An adult Bald Eagle was perched on a piling
south of the ferry dock, and Glaucous-winged Gull were abundant. The
only alcids we saw were one Pigeon Guillemot and one Rhinoceros Auklet.

A week go the passage of peeps had been stalled at Edmonds Marsh. For
a week none were seen other than the occasional Killdeer. Then last
Monday the numbers started picking up. On that day Dennis Duffy saw
over 80 Western and Least Sandpipers along with a few dowitchers of
both species. Ted Peterson reports that peep numbers have been good
all week and one Semi-palmated Plover was in the marsh briefly on
Friday. Marsh peeps this morning included about 30 Least and one
Western Sandpiper as well as one Killdeer. Ducks included Gadwall,
Mallard, and Green-winged Teal. Red-winged Blackbirds, House Finch and
American Goldfinch were seen. It looks like two of the Great Blue
Heron nests on the south side of the marsh are in use. We might
actually see nestlings before long.

The Willow Creek Hatchery and Point Edwards public path yielded some
decent species. A Cooper's Hawk flew low and close to us along the
western end of the path. We had 3-4 Vaux's Swifts mixed among the
Violet-green and Barn Swallows. (Ted reported that they watched 12
swifts over the marsh on Friday. That's a good number for Edmonds.) We
saw lots and lots of Anna's Hummingbirds and still not one Rufous. A
pair of Red-breasted Sapsuckers is excavating a new nest hole in a
snag where we watched them last spring, across the street from the
hatchery. In the hatchery we added Northern Flicker, one Empidonax,
both Hutton's and Warbling Vireo, Bushtit, Brown Creeper, both Golden-
crowned and Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Orange-crowned and Wilson's Warbler,
and Spotted Towhee. At Point Edwards we saw one Lincoln's Sparrow.
Cedar Waxwings are seen in this area by April. We are still awaiting a
first sighting of this species.

We finished up the morning at Yost Park, listening in vain for a
Cassin's Vireo. We did pick up Downy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, and
a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers. We saw both Black-capped and Chestnut-
backed Chickadees and another Brown Creeper. We added one Hermit
Thrush to a lot of Robin sightings and saw more Wilson's Warblers.

Good birding,

Carol Riddell
Edmonds