Hi Tweets,

It was great to venture out this morning (1-21-12), for the first time
since Monday, on four wheels instead of two feet. Even though the wind
has been blustery, it wasn't as cold as I thought it would be on the
Edmonds waterfront. My first stop was the marsh before sunrise. The
water level was at one of its highest. There were 25 Canada Geese and
11 Great Blue Herons. Several duck species were sheltering on the
water. The most abundant was American Wigeon. I was surprised and
delighted to see 2 Eurasian Wigeons among them. That is the first time
I have seen more than one in the marsh. There were also Green-winged
Teals, Northern Shovelers, and Mallards. No sign of Killdeer this
morning. After sunrise some of the ducks started moving off to
wherever they spend the day. the northbound Amtrak Cascades passed by,
tooting its horn, and stirring up the birds. There must have been
backed up trains because there was more freight traffic than usual on
the tracks this morning. I checked the alders but there were no small
birds in them--no siskins, no goldfinches, no redpolls. Just a lot of
wind.

I was the only person on the public pier when I arrived about 8:15.
The wind was blowing robustly from the south and there were mean-
looking whitecaps and, undoubtedly, a small-craft warning in effect.
Geese and ducks included 6 Brants, Surf Scoters, 1 Common Goldeneye
hen, and Red-breasted Mergansers. Pelagic and Double-crested
Cormorants, Horned and Red-necked Grebes, at least 4 Common Murres,
and several Pigeon Guillemots were around. One of the guillemots was
molting into alternate plumage. Rhinoceros Auklets were noted for
their absence. Four Sanderlings were racing up and down Olympic Beach,
between the pier and the ferry dock. A couple of Bonaparte's Gulls
were among the Mew Gulls.

From Sunset Avenue there were Buffleheads, several Common Goldeneye
drakes, and 7 Black Scoters in fairly close to shore. A Common Loon
was also in the vicinity. From the Water Street public access there
were no loons but another 4 Black Scoters.

All week I had been looking around the neighborhood for Varied Thrush
without success. Then driving along Olympic I watched a throng of
Robins on the side of the road. No snow, plain daylight, and no cover.
But among them was one female Varied Thrush.

Good birding,

Carol Riddell