Visiting Cas & Bob Dahlstrom Saturday 4/15/17 on Marrowstone Island I counted an amazing 420 Horned Grebes on Scow Bay. This is between Marrowstone and Indian islands. The birds were in the area from Smith Road south (could not see the rest of the bay to the north so there may have been (many) more of them). They were in groups of 40-60 making near-simultaneous foraging dives. Well over half of them were in full breeding plumage with the rest approaching full breeding plumage.

Also seen on the same portion of the bay were Common (breeding plumage) & Pacific (winter plumage) loons, Red-breasted Mergansers, Surf Scoter, Great Blue Heron, Glaucous-winged Gull, Canada Goose, Bufflehead, and Pigeon Guillemot. The sky was full of Violet-green and Tree swallows. There were both Rufous and Anna?s hummingbirds at Cas? feeders. Cas has noticed that the single male Rufous will keep at least six Anna?s away from the feeder (!). White-crowned Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Song Sparrow, House Finch, all were in attendance at the seed feeder.

A brief midday stop at Fort Flagler State Park added Double-crested and Pelagic cormorants, as well as Common Goldeneye, Harlequin Ducks, Brants, and Bald Eagle. Due to low tide and abundant clam diggers (of the human variety) there were no shorebirds present there.

Cheers,
Martin Muller, Seattle
martinmuller at msn.com