Date: 1/18/26 12:39 am From: Hans-Joachim Feddern via Tweeters <tweeters...> Subject: [Tweeters] Shilshole Black Turnstone
We took advantage of the bright sunshine - and cold wind - today and joined the maddening crowds for a walk at Golden Gardens Park in Seattle. To my disappointment, the only ducks on the Beaver Ponds at the north end of the park were a pair of Mallards on one pond and a single female Mallard on the other. On the open sound there were no sea ducks or grebes to be senn, only a lot of white caps! I finally managed to find one Rhinoceros Auklet. We continued south along the Shilshole marina and started to see a few Common Goldeneyes with good close up views. Further on in between the boats on the open water we also found some Common Mergansers and a few Horned Grebes and several Barrow's, Goldeneyes. At the south end of the marina jetty Double- Crested Cormorants, Common Mergansers and several Red-breasted Mergansers had found some smelt and went into a feeding frenzy. At the end of the jetty, a group of noisy sea lions were lazing around on top of the rocks. To my surprise a single Black Turnstone showed up on the inside of the jetty. Most likely a few more were on the other, sunny side. What made it ironic, is that we had looked for Black Turnstones in West Seattle a few days ago. Starting to look from Salty's Restaurant to Duwamish Head and on to Alki Beach without success. Only when we got to the west side at Alki Beach Park, we found half a dozen for my FOY bird! Also seen at Shilshole was a Bald Eagle on top of the navigational marker at the end of the jetty, keeping an eye on the rowdy sea lions.
Good Birding!
Hans
-- *Hans Feddern* Twin Lakes/Federal Way, WA <thefedderns...>
