Temp 51!!!, partly sunny, Wind East 5-10 mph increasing in the PM

After the good past two days, today was rather slow.

I decided to make the hike (1.3 miles each way) for the Tufted Duck.

About 100 yards into the walk, four peeps flushed from the creek and flew over to the Airport Ditch.

I abandoned the duck hunt and headed over to the Ditch. No luck. Whatever they were had moved on by the time I got there.

As I was searching for those birds, I received a call that there was a pair of Kittlitz’s Murrelets just off Bayshore Drive.

So I headed over there. As usual, they were not real close, but I got identifiable pics.

So, back to the duck search.

I hiked out, flushing a variety of ducks along the way: scaup, goldeneyes, RB Mergansers, Mallards, teal…

I was near the end when two Greater Scaup took flight, followed shortly by another bird. AHA! The Tufted Duck! I took some quick photos as it flew away. When I got back to the house this evening and studied the photos, it was just another Greater Scaup.

Oh well…

At Clam Lagoon, I finally saw the Bar-tailed Godwit that had been reported the last week or so. However, it was far out and the heat waves were bad, so no pics.

As I walked back on the mud flats towards the car, I found this.

At Shotgun Lake I saw all five Common Mergansers together (Again, the heat waves made photos impossible).

Up near Contractor’s Camp Marsh, I ran into Shep and Jon and they told me about a Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch nest they found. I checked it out and here it is.

It was inside an old concrete bunker on top of a set of metal shelves. Nicely protected from the weather.

Trip List is 59.

Today’s list can be seen at https://ebird.org/checklist/S111303200