1224 is an impressive count. I have had conservative estimates of as many
as 700 in Sep/Oct in the waters just north of Edmonds. I had actually felt
like numbers were pretty low this year, so your count is encouraging. The
birds are typically sitting well over a mile off shore so even seeing them
can be difficult. The birds are typically barely visible from the fishing
pier so perhaps the fog this morning pushed them south.

I've often wondered why the Grebes liked this spot so much and I think I
finally figured out why. Looking at a underwater topographical map
(Hopefully this link works: http://goo.gl/JXmbQB
) you can see a large bulge off the south tip of Whidbey Island where the
depth goes from about a thousand feet to as little as a hundred feet. I
presume that the current that passes over this hump when the tide is going
in or out pushes up lots of food towards the surface where birds can get to
it. When viewed from a high point such as Stamm Overlook Park in Edmonds
you can actually see the current as well as the many grebes, gulls, and
alcids that seem to be taking advantage of it. I've seen good numbers of
Caspian Terns feeding here in the summer as well.

Unrelated, but I've posted a couple photos from my hike on Johnson Ridge on
my Flickr page:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/beastofexmoor/


Josh Adams
Lynnwood, WA
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