Hello Tweets,
After reading about some of the rarity chasing going on in the path of
Hurricane Sandy today I felt inspired to not let the rain stop me from
doing a little birding myself today. On the way home from work I
stopped in Mukilteo. I inspected every gull present in the parking lot
by the boat launch, but could find nothing of excitement. There were a
couple of Bonaparte's Gulls a bit off shore and a Belted Kingfisher
was hunting from the dock.

I moved south to Picnic Point Park where I actually had to exit my car
and get wet. It turned out to be well worth it as a large flock of
ducks was sitting near the shore. They thoughtfully broke up by
species to make my life easier and I scoped them from the relative
dryness underneath the walkway. Most surprising was a flock of 8
Harlequin Ducks that quickly moved away from shore. I know these get
seen sometimes in Edmonds, but they are a nice treat, but it was a
treat to get such nice views. 10 male Barrow's Goldeneyes were
clustered around a lone female. There were at least 50 American
Wigeon's and I tried in vain to find a Eurasian mixed in, but light
and heavy molting most were still in didn't do me any favors. Farther
out were a small group of Bufflehead mixed in with many Horned Grebes.
Rounding out the list were Common Loon, Horned Grebe, and Mew,
Bonaparte's, GW, and Heerman's Gulls.

Josh Adams
Lynnwood, WA