June was a good month for the Edmonds collective year list. The sighting of a Horned Puffin (code 5) from the public pier on June 17th is a first. This sighting, with photo documentation, brings the official Edmonds list up to 264 species. A Yost Park visitor encountered a Northern Saw-whet Owl (code 5) on June 7th, in the early afternoon, and just published her photo of the owl at myedmondsnews.com <http://myedmondsnews.com/> Sunday. The last known observation of a Saw-whet was in January 2009, also in Yost Park. It was a heard only observation. Black Swifts (code 4) were feeding over the waterfront on June 19th and were seen by at least two birders. A few Evening Grosbeaks (code 3) showed up in late May in the neighborhood of one birder. A Green Heron (code 3) was in the marsh on June 8th. Purple Martins (code 3) appear to be nesting in the new boxes on the Olympic Beach pilings. There are usually 4 - 5 birds present. It looks as if the martins have prevented the pair of Tree Swallows from nesting in one of the boxes. There was a Lesser Scaup (code 3) in the nearshore waters north of the ferry dock on June 9th.

Heermann?s Gulls and California Gulls are back along the waterfront. There have been occasional sightings of Marbled Murrelets and Common Murres. The collective year list is at 151 species.

Carol Riddell
Edmonds