Tweets,

Paula Crockett, Christina Doherty and I scouted a trip to the Kitsap Peninsula last Sunday, and were pleased to find the nearshore waters of Admiralty Inlet, Hood Canal and Puget Sound teeming with waterfowl, of which many species are molting into breeding plumage.

Our trip took us from Edmonds to Kingston (where we were greeted by an early morning fly-by of a Merlin), and then on to Point No Point, where we ran into another birder, Stephen Giles, who pointed us to the Eurasian Wigeon in residence in the marsh behind the Point No Point Lighthouse. The tidal action at the entrance to Puget Sound attracted a rich combination of waterfowl, including Pacific and Common Loons, many Brant and several dozen species. Stephen kindly took us in hand and led us to good birding sites in Driftwood Key on the north end of Kitsap Peninsula and Point Julia on Port Gamble. At Driftwood Key we found around 80 Northern Pintails, a Hooded Merganser, Common Loons and many Surf and White-winged Scoters. Moving on to Point Julia, we were pleased to add Red-throated Loon, Black Scoters and Long-tailed Ducks to our tally.

At Port Gamble, we found more Long-tailed Ducks as well as nearly 30 Western Grebes. Our route then took us to Salisbury Point, past a flock of 40 Trumpeter Swans in the Chimicum Valley, then to the Ajax Caf? outside of Port Hadlock, Indian Island Park and Mystery Bay State Park, where we found another 100 Brant before pushing on to Fort Flagler State Park., which produced Dunlin, Sanderlings, and Black Bellied Plover in addition to Harlequin Ducks and more grebes, cormorants and diving ducks. One last stop at the Nordland General Store gave us three Greater Yellowlegs before we returned to the Kingston ferry terminal, where we added Brant's Cormorant to our list, bringing our total to 57 species. We'll follow much of this route next Saturday for a Seattle Audubon Society Field Trip, adding Point Wilson and Kai Tai Lagoon to a full day of birding.

Jim Owens
Mercer Island