Hi Tweets,

Happy summer. It has been a while so I will update the last two months for Edmonds bird sightings. At the moment, we have reached a total of 166 year birds.

Let's start with June highlights. On June 4th a Common Nighthawk (code 5) was seen flying near Haines Wharf Park in the north part of the city. It is the fourth record that we have. There should be more sightings of this ever more scarce bird in the lowlands, but there do not seem to be in our area. The last recorded sighting was in 2013. Heermann's Gulls (code 1) returned to the waterfront on June 11th. There appear to be around 200 birds resting on the marina's south breakwater when these gulls are at rest. June 16th was ushered in with an early morning sighting from the Edmonds marsh of two Long-billed Curlews (code 5) flying north along the railroad tracks. The veered away toward the Sound and were not seen again, although a couple of us looked throughout the morning. This is only the third sighting of record. This species was seen in late August 1999 and again in the fall of 2002. It's been a long time.

As for July, a single Brown Pelican (code 4) was seen off the waterfront by several observers on the 6th. A Semipalmated Sandpiper (code 3) was in the marsh on July 8th. It was not the first sighting of the year, but it was the first of southbound migration. Pectoral Sandpipers (code 3) showed up in the marsh on July 14th. A Long-billed Dowitcher (code 3) was in the marsh at least by July 17th. As a second sighting for the year, 75 American White Pelicans (code 4) flew over the Edmonds Bowl, heading north along the shoreline, on July 21st. July ended with a Manx Shearwater (code 5) sighting on the 31st. It is both an Edmonds and a county first.

This is the first year that we have confirmed nesting in the marsh by Spotted Sandpipers (code 3). We usually see one bird a year passing through the marsh. This year we have had ongoing sightings since May 12th. Ultimately we saw the second adult and it was only a matter of time before chicks and at least one immature bird made appearances. The species is still being seen after three months. All five nest boxes in the marsh were in use this year. One hosted a family of Black-capped Chickadees, another was used by Violet-green Swallows and three were in use by Tree Swallows. All of the swallows fledged young. Resident swallows have departed the marsh and those we are now seeing appear to be migrants from farther north. Some days there are a few swallows around and none on other days. At least three of the Purple Martin nest boxes on the pilings just south of the ferry dock have been used, perhaps more. Ten martins are being seen regularly. They appear to be a mix of adults and fledged young.

Species on our collective list are noted in the bird information display box at the Olympic Beach Visitor Station at the base of the public pier. If you would like a copy of the current Edmonds checklist, please request it at checklistedmonds at gmail.com <mailto:checklistedmonds at gmail.com>. As always, if you have a good sighting for Edmonds, please email me directly so that we will know about it. Thanks.

Carol Riddell
Edmonds, WA

Abundance codes: (1) Common, (2) Uncommon, (3) Harder to find, usually seen annually, (4) Rare, 5+ records, (5) Fewer than 5 records




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