Hi Tweeters,?
There was a nice mix of birds at Discovery Park this morning, with most being observed in the West Point area, in the calm weather with good visibility. ?Highlights included:
- a Brown Pelican on the water well offshore (a KingCo lifer for me, I think this is the bird that Jordan Gunn reported recently).
- 3 separate tight flocks of Ancient Murrelets flying south well offshore, I came up with an estimate of 36 total (single Marbleds also flew by)
- a Long-tailed Duck also well offshore w/ Surf Scoters, could it be returning from the spring?
- lots of other waterbirds flying around, including many flashy Bonaparte's Gulls, and my first-of-the-season Brant and Barrow's Goldeneye
- a nice group of landbirds at West Point included a White-throated Sparrow, a Savannah Sparrow, and a Townsend's Warbler with the Yellow-rumps. ?An Orange-crowned Warbler was in a mixed flock at the north end of South Meadow.

I think the calm weather and good visibility really helped today, as many of my trips to Discovery seem to be long on the walking and short on the good birds.

Good birding,
Evan Houston
Seattle, WA