Mike,

Not unusual to see marbled murrelets in the San Juans in large numbers. Murrelet monitoring has documented foraging use in the San Juans. Last year in August I saw over 100 off the southwest tip of Orcas Island.

Mike Scuderi
Kent, Wa
Cotinga777 at yahoo.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Wagenbach [mailto:wagen at uw.edu]
Sent: Monday, June 06, 2016 10:11 AM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: [Tweeters] Marbled Murrelets South Lopez Island

Yesterday I kayaked from Anacortes to Friday Harbor via the south shore of Lopez Island. At we rounded Point Colville, we came upon a group of seven Marbled Murrelets. Six few off to the SW and one dove. Between Castle Island and Swirl Island and again south of Flint Beach, we passed by singles or pairs of Murrelets, but I expect they were likely members of the initial group that flew, so I would not add them to my count.

While I have seen Marbled Murrelets previously in this area, I recall only one or two birds at a time. This larger group seemed remarkable.

Mike Wagenbach
Seattle