Our smallest cormorant is not as seagoing as its name implies and resides mostly along rocky shorelines. It is somewhat less common in southern Puget Sound and in rivers and lakes near the coast. 

The Western Gull is a large, white-headed gull with a dark gray mantle, pink legs, and a large, bulbous yellow bill with a red spot toward the tip. In winter Western Gulls move into Puget Sound and can more readily be seen by local birders.

A winter visitor to the coast of Washington, the Western Grebe is closely related to Clark’s Grebe, which was formerly considered a subspecies of Western Grebe.

Eastside Audubon’s Bird of the Month for January 2019 is the Pacific Loon. A western U. S. specialty, the Pacific Loon is most well known as a spring and fall migrant along the Pacific coast.  

he Tufted Puffin is a dramatic looking bird. Its bulky bright orange bill, striking white mask and spectacular blond feather tufts streaming back along the sides of its head contrast with dark black feathers on the rest of the bird. It is excellent swimmer capable of deep dives of up to two minutes in length.

The Common Murre (COMU) is about 17” long with a wingspan of 26”. The genus name Uria (YOU-rih-ah) is from the Greek ourein, to dive. The species name aalge (AHL-geh) is the Scandinavian word for bird. The common name (MER) is of obscure European origin and may be related to marrot, local English dialect, for an auk, guillemot, or puffin.

The cascading song of the Canyon Wren descends from cliffs and canyon walls, and is surely not forgotten once heard. It is most often heard in spring, but there are times when a mated pair will sing spontaneously at other times of year. It is a bird of the west and is found from southern British Columbia to Mexico. In Washington, the Canyon Wren resides along the eastern slope of the Cascade Range and in canyons farther east. 

The Pigeon Guillemot (PIGU) is a member of the auk family and is about 13-1/2” long. It is generally found close to rocky shores along the Pacific Coast from Alaska to California. The genus name Cepphus is from the Greek kepphus meaning sea bird; the species name columba is from the Latin for dove or pigeon.

The Double-crested Cormorant (DCCO) is about 32" long and has a wing span of about 52". Its genus phalakros is from Greek for bald, and kora for crow or raven. The family includes only cormorants of which there are 30 in the world and 6 in North America. The species auritus is Latin for eared or crested and refers to the rarely seen tufts on the crown.

The Heermann’s Gull (HRGU, not to be confused with HEGU for a Herring Gull) is about 19 inches long. Its genus, Larus, is from the Greek word meaning a ravenous seabird.

The Black Tern is an attractive bird which has been described with enthusiastic language. It is especially striking in its breeding plumage of black head and smoky-gray body

The Rhinoceros Auklet is named for the horn at the base of its bill.  It is in the genus cerorhinca (horn-nose) from the Greek keras, horn, and rugkhos, snout.

In this article we will focus on the adult forms of the three most common pink-legged gulls seen in Western Washington in winter, plus the hybrid of the Glaucous-winged and Western Gulls. Many observers now say that this hybrid gull is the most commonly seen gull of them all.

In the northwest we have three species of gulls with white heads and yellow legs: Mew Gull, Ring-billed Gull, and California Gull.  They differ in size, bill markings, mantel color, and wing tip appearance.  In this article we will compare and contrast only the adult plumage birds.

The Caspian Tern (CATE) is about 21” long with a wingspan of 50” and weight of 1.4 lb (660g). The genus name Sterna (STIR-nah) is Latin stemming from Anglo-Saxon stearn , tern.

“The Bonaparte’s has a graceful, buoyant flight, which is rather ternlike” (Alderfer).

The Red-throated Loon is named after the inverted triangular red patch on its throat in breeding plumage.

The “song of the loon” once heard will never be forgotten.   Piercing the evening across a lake in northern North America the male loon defends his territory with yodels that can be heard up to 16 km away.

The Red-necked Grebe is a winter visitor to the marine waters of Washington and has a particular affinity for Puget Sound where it enjoys eating fish and crustaceans which it captures during dives which are sometimes quite deep.

The Horned Grebe (HOGR) is about 14” long with a wingspan of 18” and weight is 1 lb. (450 g). The genus name Podiceps (POD-ih-seps) is from Greek pous, podos, meaning foot, referring to the placement of the legs extremely far back on the body.

The Pied-billed Grebe (PBGR) is 13-1/2 to 14" long. Common, but not gregarious, on fresh and brackish water. Scarce on salt water in winter.

The Brown Pelican is a conservation success story. Populations on both the Pacific and Atlantic/Gulf coasts suffered tremendously during the 1960s when all North American pelicans were extirpated outside of Florida.