Hi Tweets,

Old Man Winter had his grip on the air around Edmonds this morning--
nippy! But the clouds alternate with blue sky so it was an enjoyable
walk in spite of the chill. The best birds around the Sound were SNOW
GEESE, a chevron of 40 heading in a southeasterly direction. A late
OSPREY was circling over Edmonds Marsh and there was one DUNLIN among
the Killdeer in the marsh. My personal best bird of the morning was a
MOURNING DOVE near Point Edwards because I have never been able to
tick that for my Edmonds list until now.

The waterfront was not terribly birdy this morning. I checked it out
from Sunset Avenue. Whereas Thursday evening (10-18) I saw 19 PACIFIC
LOONS far to the north of the dive park, this morning I saw none. The
only alcid was RHINOCEROS AUKLET and I counted only nine of them.
There were two BLACK SCOTER drakes this morning, not associating with
the Surf Scoters. The female KINGFISHER was perched on a structure at
the ferry dock. Other than that, the birds on the water were the
expected species and numbers were low.

In and around the Edmonds Marsh, we also had Mallards, Green-winged
Teals, American Wigeons, Northern Shovelers, Gadwalls, and two Coots.
(Thursday evening there were five Coots.) Three California Quail
scurried about. Eleven has been a fairly consistent number for Great
Blue Herons recently. A female Downy Woodpecker made an appearance.
Marsh and Bewick's Wrens were observed. There was a feeding flock in
one western red cedar that included Black-capped and Chestnut-backed
Chickadees, Townsend's Warbler, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and Pine
Siskins. I saw my Edmonds FOS Lincoln's Sparrow. There were also Song
Sparrows, Spotted Towhees, and Oregon Juncos. Notable were several
large (100+ birds each) flocks of Pine Siskins. Looks like it is going
to be a good winter for siskins.

Carol Riddell
Edmonds