This just in from a new Murreleteer, a member of the audience at my "Murrelet Madness" talk at Nisqually NWR last week:
Cheers! Keers!We spent a few days in the Willapa Bay area
looking for Marbled Murrelets. After having no
luck in hearing "keer" calls in the early mornings or late
evenings, I finally talked with a ranger at the Willapa NWR. She told me that she had seen Marbled Murrelets at the north jetty of the Columbia River over last weekend. So....we took our scope up on the jetty on a beautiful
day and peered out to the mouth of the river. I saw a lot of Common Murres. Then, as I was looking through the scope, I saw a little brown football shape with
long wings take off from the group of murres. I lost
it after a short time, but I'm sure it was a Marbled Murrelet. Now, I'm even more obsessed!