A brutal wind out of the northwest made it difficult to spend much
time on the Edmonds public pier this morning. I did note that Brant
geese are continuing as flybys in small flocks of ten to fifteen
geese. We've been seeing them by scope for the last several weeks.
Most of the Heermann's Gulls headed south more than a week ago. One
has been hanging on but has looked listless on the marina breakwater.
This morning I saw wings sticking up in yesterday's location of the
gull and there was an eagle's large white tail feather near the wings.
So it is probably safe to say that the Heermann's Gulls are out of
Edmonds waters until early next summer.

In areas near the marsh today there were two Common Ravens (code 3), a
Western Meadowlark (code 4), and a Ruddy Duck (code 3). The two ravens
have ben observed for the last couple of months by a birder who lives
in south Edmonds. They appear to fly in from Shoreline, stop over in
his neighborhood, and then fly into Woodway. They were first seen in
the Edmonds Bowl on November 10th and this morning was the fourth
sighting since that date. This is the fifth or sixth Western
Meadowlark since September 20th, a bird that we can go several years
without seeing. Today's bird is probably the same bird that we have
seen several times since November 26th. The Ruddy Duck has been seen
intermittently since November 21st. This, too, is a species that has
been difficult to find in the last couple of years.

A Mourning Dove (code 4) passed over the marsh and Point Edwards on
November 26th. That same day we had a bonanza of five Varied Thrushes.
A Peregrine Falcon (code 3) was soaring over the Edmonds Bowl
yesterday, December 2nd. The adult Red-tailed Hawk was seen shortly
thereafter. We are still at 184 species for the year.

Carol Riddell
Edmonds, WA