As of late October 2026, eBird's public page for Three Tree Point lists 82 bird species. All of them come from just 17 checklists filed by 11 people. The point's December list is empty, with zero species recorded in any year. On the most-watched shoreline in the area, the darkest month of winter has no birds on record.
That gap says something about the point itself. In winter, the water off Three Tree Point is barely recorded. The few checklists that do exist show it's busy, with scoters, goldeneyes, grebes, loons, murres and auklets on the water. A larger record a short way up the shore suggests even more. One resident with binoculars and twenty minutes on a cold morning can add a real share of what's known about this water.
How thin the point's record is
The Three Tree Point hotspot is a single pin at 47.450902, -122.379941. Each checklist is one visit by one birder. Seventeen of them adds up to about one well-attended holiday party's worth of observations.
Compare that with Seahurst Park's hotspot in Burien. As of late October 2026 it has 912 checklists and 138 species. That's more than 50 times as many checklists as the point. Seahurst simply gets watched and logged far more often.
Three Tree Point's page has seen some activity this year. Its list shows 43 species reported so far in 2026. Even so, every winter month the point does have on record comes from a few dated visits.
What the few winter visits found
Here is what the point's own winter checklists recorded, month by month. Each row is a snapshot from short visits, not a full count.
| Month | Dated checklists at Three Tree Point | Species recorded |
|---|---|---|
| November | Nov. 27, 2022 | Surf Scoter, White-winged Scoter, Common Goldeneye, with Rhinoceros Auklet, Common Murre, Ancient Murrelet, grebes and loons in the November records |
| December | None, any year | Nothing on record |
| January | Jan. 3 and Jan. 15, 2026 | Surf Scoter, Brant, Common Goldeneye, Barrow's Goldeneye, Rhinoceros Auklet, Common Murre, Horned Grebe |
| February | Feb. 27, 2026 | Harlequin Duck, Common Goldeneye, Pigeon Guillemot, Horned Grebe, Red-necked Grebe, Bald Eagle |
A handful of visits picked up two kinds of scoter, two kinds of goldeneye, three kinds of grebe, and four members of the auk family: Common Murre, Rhinoceros Auklet, Ancient Murrelet and Pigeon Guillemot. Sea ducks, divers and alcids all turned up within a few weeks of each other. That's a lot to find in so few visits.
The November entry is also the oldest. The point's November record dates to 2022, so it describes a morning four winters ago. For a current picture of November, the better guide is up the shore.
What Seahurst's November record suggests
Because Seahurst has so many checklists, its all-years November list works as a forecast for nearby water. That list includes Common Goldeneye, Rhinoceros Auklet, Horned Grebe, Pacific Loon, Common Loon, Harlequin Duck, Surf Scoter, Pigeon Guillemot and Red-necked Grebe. Seahurst's November records also include Brant, Marbled Murrelet and Common Murre. Some of its November entries are as recent as Nov. 29, 2025. Bald Eagle shows up on its January list.
Most of these species also appear somewhere on the point's own short list. Seahurst's record makes them more likely, not certain. Here's what it suggests looking for off Three Tree Point this November:
- Loons. Seahurst has both Pacific and Common Loons in November. The point's November records mention loons without much detail.
- Harlequin Duck. It's on Seahurst's November list and on the point's February list, but there's no November record from the point yet.
- Marbled Murrelet. It's on Seahurst's November list and doesn't appear in the point's winter entries above.
- Brant. It's on Seahurst's November list and was logged at the point in January 2026.
Anyone who logs one of these from the point in November isn't confirming something already known. They're filling in a month the record covers poorly.
Why one December checklist counts
Every all-years list on the point's page grows only when someone stands at the water and submits what they saw. December is at zero because nothing has been logged then, not because the water goes empty. Seahurst's record shows sea ducks, grebes and loons on either side of December. The point's own January and February visits did too.
So the first December sightings logged at the Three Tree Point hotspot would turn a blank month into a baseline. Each checklist after that adds to it. With 17 checklists on file, a single morning would add about six percent to the total. It's rare for one person's twenty minutes of watching to move a public record that much.
eBird isn't the only place that record could come from. A separate, more structured count runs along this same stretch of the Salish Sea all winter.
The Saturday count running all winter
The Puget Sound Seabird Survey started at Seattle Audubon in 2007. The Puget Sound Bird Observatory has coordinated it since 2022. Volunteer teams run synchronized counts each winter month at shoreline sites across the southern Salish Sea. PSBO calls it the region's only long-term, land-based, multi-month seabird monitoring program.
Here's how it works, according to PSBO:
- Surveys happen on the first Saturday of each month, October through April. That's seven counts a season.
- One survey usually takes 15 to 30 minutes.
- The program covers more than 190 shoreline sites. Volunteers are assigned one to three sites based on where they are and what they prefer.
- Beginners are welcome. Teams mix beginning birders who are still learning seabird ID with experienced observers.
- Sign-up starts with an interest form. For the 2026–27 season, the form is at form.jotform.com/t_ross/psss_2026-27.
Because surveys fall on first Saturdays, there are six left this season. The October count is already done. The next one is two days after this post goes up.
| Survey Saturday | Date |
|---|---|
| November | Nov. 7, 2026 |
| December | Dec. 5, 2026 |
| January | Jan. 2, 2027 |
| February | Feb. 6, 2027 |
| March | March 6, 2027 |
| April | April 3, 2027 |
PSBO's public text doesn't list survey sites by name. Volunteers get their assignments through the interest form. If you'd like a site close to the point, the form is where to say so.
The Dec. 5 date matters here. December is the month with no entries on the point's eBird page. The first-Saturday count lands right in it. Fifteen to thirty minutes of watching that Saturday morning, logged on eBird as well, would give the point its first December record.
Learning the birds before the first Saturday
Telling a Surf Scoter from a White-winged Scoter, or a Horned Grebe from a Red-necked Grebe, is easier with company. Rainier Audubon Society has a field trip to Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026. The group meets at the Redondo Heights Park & Ride. It's a regional outing, not a shoreline walk at the point, but it's the closest scheduled chance this month to bird with an experienced group before the Dec. 5 count.
PSBO also posts a seabird ID quiz next to its survey protocol. It's a good way to check what you can and can't tell apart before you head down to the water.
A December morning on the calendar
Here are the season's key dates in order:
- Nov. 7: PSSS count.
- Nov. 14: Rainier Audubon's Nisqually trip.
- Dec. 5: PSSS count, and a natural morning to log the point's first December eBird sightings.
- Jan. 2, Feb. 6, March 6 and April 3, 2027: The remaining Saturday counts, with the PSSS season ending in April.
Bring binoculars and a phone with eBird. When you get to the water, start with the species the point has already logged in January and February: scoters, goldeneyes, Horned Grebes, Rhinoceros Auklets, Common Murres. Anything you see beyond those is new to the point's record.
At Michelle Codd Homes, we love the parts of Three Tree Point that never show up in a listing, and a first-ever December bird list for the point is one of them. If you file that checklist this winter, send us what you saw. And if you're ever curious what your own spot near the water is worth, our Get Home Value tool is ready whenever you are.
