Alcids all around

Two adult Pigeon Guillemot on the left.  Adult with immature on the right.  The medium-sized alcids were abundant today in Admiralty Sound off Port Townsend.  We also found a Common Murre, one lone Cassin’s Auklet, scads of Marbled Murrelets in pairs, some young Rhino Auklets and then a dense float of adults.  The latter were about a mile offshore from Point Wilson, Fort Worden State Park.

Altogether our group had over 75 species on the day, our most productive of the five-day PIB Northwest birding trip.  We had over 115 species for the trip and everybody picked up lifers.  And photos of many of our birds will be forthcoming on this blog.  Here are a couple more:

A Turnstone Tornado.  Over 120 Black Turnstones on the wooden pier structure of the ferry terminal at Port Townsend.  They were accompanied by shrill whistles and a couple Surfbirds.  That’s the Surfbird with yellow legs in the final picture.

We also had a trio of Trumpeters in a pasture on Whidbey Island, giving us a total of 30 waterfowl on the trip.  We chose to spend our time chasing a Yellow-billed Loon off Point Wilson rather than pick up the 31st, Ruddy Ducks in a pond in Port Townsend.  We didn’t get the loon but did see the float of adult Rhino Auklets, some already in breeding plumage.

Tags: Admiralty Sound, alcids, Black Turnstone, Pigeon Guillemot, Port Townsend, Rhino Auklet, Surfbird, Trumpeter Swan, Washington State