I went down to Discovery Park to scope from West Point, the weather was pleasant but the lighting was terrible. Had many Western, Red-necked and Horned Grebes, but otherwise there were few birds out on the Sound. The highlight was a little dark brown alcid that was swimming just 5 feet off of the rocks on the north side of the point. The bird was dark brown overall, with uniform pale whitish flecks on the breast leading to a pale belly. It held its head barely out of the water to give it a neck-less look, and it held its rather long, pale orange bill upward. It swam very slowly right by me, then settled with a couple of gulls about 40 feet straight out off the point. I saw it dive once, and it used its wings for propulsion as it did so. My first thought was Cassin's Auklet, but this bird was dark brown with a pale bill that seemed larger than a Cassin's bill. I'm fairly sure it isn't a Pigeon Guillemot, Rhino Auklet, or any Murre or Murrelet. I took some
bad pictures with my "phone-ocular" setup, but they may be enough for an ID. Any alcid experts out there care to weight in?

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--Jordan Gunn
Seattle, WA
uwjag21 at yahoo dot com