Hello Tweeters,
I led a field trip for Seattle Audubon of 8 people to the Port Townsend area on Saturday. We started our day at Salsbury Point County Park near the Hood Canal bridge. We had great looks at Common Loons, Pigeon Guillemots, Horned and Western Grebes among other salt water birds. We headed over to Port Hadlock for a stop at the Ajax Cafe. The waters here had about a dozen Marbled Murrelets, two pairs of Hooded Mergansers, a large group of A. Widgeons in which we were able to find one Eurasian Widgeon. Weather at this time was a light rain mixed with a little snow. We headed to Oak Bay County Park which is the spot for Pintails where were present in good numbers. We also got our first looks at some Dunlin and a Black Oystercatcher. On the far shore we found a couple of Black Turnstones. The waters to the west had Surf and White-winged Scoters and more Common Loons. We saw many Buffleheads through out the day. As we looked over at the breakwater near the channel, we found 6 Black Oystercatchers on the rocks.
Next we went over to the Indian Island County Park. Here we saw our first Harlequin Duck of the day with a group of about 30 Red-breasted Mergansers. The highlight here was 3 Black Oystercatchers flying overhead calling. They finally settled down with the other 6 Oystercatchers. They soon were joined by a flock of Black Turnstones. After a welcome coffee stop at the Nordland Store we stopped at Mystery Bay. We were looking for Greater Yellowlegs which are normally found here in winter. We found one on the far shore with a Black-bellied Plover and more Dunlin. A small apple tree right next to the parking lot had several A. Robins and two Varied Thurshes. The birds were nicely lit up by the sun which finally had come out.
Ft Flagler campground was our next stop. We got there at high tide which usually drives the shorebirds on to the grass. We were not disappointed. As we pulled into the lot, we could see hundreds of shorebirds. There were about 75 Black-bellied Plovers and one Pacific Golden Plover. Several hundred Dunlin made up most of the flock. About a dozen Sanderlings scurried around with the group. The birds seemed a little nervous, but we could not find any falcons hanging around. We found about a dozen Long-tailed Ducks on the water between us and Port Townsend. There was a flock of about 50 Brant off the end of the spit.
Point Wilson was our next destination. Usually very windy, we got a break while we were there. Most of the birds were a long ways out but we did get looks at more Marbled Murrelets as well as small groups of Ancients. There was a constant stream of Common Murres going by as well as Rhinoceres Auklets. About 30 Red-necked Grebes were actively feeding in the tidal rip.
We tried to turn a couple of Common Loons in Yellow-billed but we couldn't convince ourselves.
68 species on a very good day in December.

Neil Zimmerman
Brier, WA