Birders' top spots: John Wayne Marina

Location: Sequim, Clallam County

Habitat: Port breakwater; estuary, creek mouth, Sequim Bay

Best season for birding: Year-round. Currently: Look for masses of waterbirds in great rafts just offshore, plus Heermann's gulls.

Birds commonly seen: Late-winter to summer, see great flocks of pigeon guillemots with marbled murrelets on fringes. Most species present year-round, though birds most numerous in winter: Pacific, common and occasional yellow-billed loons; common murres, horned and red-necked grebes, long-tailed ducks, common and Barrow's goldeneyes, hooded mergansers. Spring-summer, rhinoceros auklets feed in bay. Fall-spring, check breakwater for black-bellied plovers, sanderlings, dunlins.

Viewing: Best at rising/falling tide. Scan bay, breakwater. From south parking in fall and winter, view creek mouth for black oystercatchers and numerous gull species including Bonaparte's and Mew, with Heermann's in winter only.

Getting there : From Highway 101 east of Sequim at Milepost 262.2, turn north onto Whitefeather Way. Drive 0.6 mile. Turn left (north) onto West Sequim Bay Road. Drive 0.1 mile. Turn right into south parking lot; walk/drive 0.2 mile to north lot.

Source: Audubon Washington, Great Washington State Birding Trail maps. To order maps (Cascade Loop, Coulee Corridor, Olympic Loop or Southwest Loop), go online to www.wa.audubon.org. Call toll-free, 866-922-4737, for more information.