The plan was to head out to Alden Bank from Birch Bay Marina.
What are the targets I was asked. Ancient Murrelets and Eiders I replied.
We'd just got to the edge of Birch Bay when seven Ancient Murrelets were seen.
We stayed in the area watching them for a bit. They'd all dive together then popup and do this again.
They stayed relatively close together in their group.
A photo shows them in various stages of molt from one still mostly in breeding plumage to others either juvenile or nonbreeding.
A couple of photos on my Flickr site. A group shot and a single. https://www.flickr.com/photos/ericellingson/
Other birds of note were 50 Western Grebes and about the same Long-tailed Ducks.

We were going to head toward another group that looked like possible murrelets when we noticed Harbor Porpoise, unusual numbers a bit further out.
At one point we were in the middle of about 50 Harbor Porpoise. Some were racing at speeds I'd not seen before. Others just hanging out not really moving at all for periods of time before descending. It was quite a spectacle. I know this is not bird-related but part of a birding experience. A few photos can be seen here in a google doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_15da1ZKjF3ySOvCMqN5G2DR_nBVOPrkWXxs-Xj5lS8/edit?usp=sharing

With only a couple of hours of daylight left we figured we had a great time on the water and enough time to go chase the Tropical Kingbird.
With four birders looking for an hour, we failed to find the kingbird.

Eric Ellingson

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