Subject: [Tweeters] More on Discovery Park Crested Auklet, and other birds
Date: Sun Jun 30 23:43:46 PDT 2019
From: Matt Dufort - matt.dufort at gmail.com

Hi tweets,

Spencer Hildie and I decided to seawatch from West Point this morning, in
the hopes of turning up a few early southbound shorebirds and maybe some
oddball summering species. The day was packed with surprises; we were in
shock even before the Crested Auklet showed up. Details and a few photos
in the eBird checklist: https://ebird.org/pnw/view/checklist/S57825222.

More info on the Crested Auklet. It flew in from the north at about 8:10
with 3 Rhinoceros Auklets. They joined a big group of Rhinos feeding off
West Point, and the Crested hung out there for 30+ minutes, making
occasional short flights but always returning to the raft. Eventually it
flew off to the south by itself, settling on the water with a different
pair of Rhinoceros Auklets, maybe 1 mile SSW of West Point. Again, it made
a bunch of short flights, and many foraging dives, but never left that pair
of Rhinos. So it clearly likes the company of other auklets. We
eventually lost it around 9:40 as it drifted south-southwest into the heat
shimmer.

Other highlights from this morning at the park:
Adult Tufted Puffin, flew by then stopped briefly before proceeding
southward.
Two Parasitic Jaegers, apparently continuing from their unprecedented
abundance in Puget Sound this spring
Out-of-season waterbirds: Red-throated Loon, White-winged Scoters (9!),
Common Mergansers, and Common Murre.
Early shorebird migrants: one each of Western Sandpiper, Semipalmated
Plover, and Whimbrel.
Continuing House Wrens near the stables.

I often struggle to predict which days will have good bird movements at
West Point. I really wasn't expecting much today. But I will definitely
be spending more time there in mid-summer from now on!

Good birding,
Matt Dufort
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