Dear Mike and Tweeters,
Mike Wagenbach raises an interesting question about alcid numbers.
Three days ago, I made my first visit since January to Washington Park in Anacortes. There at Green Point, I saw at least 60 Rhinoceros Auklets, plus one Common Murre, 15 Pigeon Guillemots, and 10 Marbled Murrelets.
I just checked my summertime records for the last few years; the above totals appear typical, matching up with alcid numbers that I have observed at Washington Park over the last ten summers. On some July visits during that span, I have missed the Common Murre entirely, so seeing just one is about normal--at least, normal in the context of the low numbers we have these days. 
Still, older birders I talk to in Washington all say that the numbers of alcids and other fish-eating seabirds are far lower today, compared to two or three generations ago.
Marbled Murrelets are a special case. At least in Skagit, they are very local. At Rosario Head, I miss them more often than not. That goes for most other Skagit sea watch places. Green Point at Washington Park is by far the most reliable public site in Skagit that I know for this species. Over the last 30 years, in July and early August, I have seen the Marbled Murrelet 48 times at Green Point, 5 times at Samish Island Public Beach, and only 4 times at Rosario Head. There are presumably other good spots, perhaps on Guemes Island or Cypress Island, but those would require a ferry or boat.
Yours truly,
Gary Bletsch




On Saturday, July 11, 2020, 08:43:37 PM PDT, Mike Wagenbach <wagen at uw.edu> wrote:

I've sea kayaked in Rosario Strait and the Strait of Juan de Fuca almost every year since 1999.  This summer, I've gone out from Washington Park in Anacortes three times: once as far as Swirl Island and back, once to Iceberg Point and back, and once all the way around Lopez Island (on July 7).
I've not seen a single Marbled Murrelet this year, and fewer Rhino Auklets that I seem to remember on average.  RAs are there, just not in impressive numbers.  OTOH, Pigeon Guillemots seem quite abundant.
Are there any trends in alcid numbers or is this just random variation?  I saw a good number of Murrelets last year, I thought.
On July 7, a couple of other uncommon observations: a Peregrine Falcon stooped down from the cliff on the south side of Castle Island at a Pigeon Guillemot, without success, and as I came back across Rosario Strait from Lopez Pass in the evening, I saw a single Brown Pelican._______________________________________________
Tweeters mailing list
Tweeters at u.washington.edu
http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20200712/e73ebd98/attachment.html>