Twenty-eight Pigeon Guillemots—adults and young birds—flew, paddles, billed, dipped, and flocked through downtown Olympia last weekend at the annual Procession of the Species parade. And, as with the wild guillemots in the Salish Sea, there was at least one birder aiming binoculars at these flaming-red seabirds.

The twenty-eight participants are volunteers with the Salish Sea Guillemot Network, a community-science project focused on collecting data on the Pigeon Guillemots during their summer breeding season when they come to the shores of the Salish Sea to nest. Though we have studied these birds for more than a decade, it was surprisingly challenging for us bi-peds to choreograph our guillemot moves as we paraded through the streets of downtown. I think we got the message across that we were birds. We overheard people in the crowd identifying us as Pigeon Guillemots, but also as ninjas and red-legged bird known as Oystercatchers.

The raucous auks in the streets of Olympia for the Procession of the Species.

This is the first year Pigeon Guillemots have been represented in the Procession, which has been an much-loved and crowd-drawing event in downtown Olympia since 1995. For those of you unfamiliar with this event, it’s a non-motorized, no-signs, no-banners, no-singing, human-powered parade featuring music, dance, and so much creativity. A huge papier-mache sun leads the parade, with costumed participants organized into four groups corresponding to Earth’s four elements—earth, air, fire, water. It’s a spectacular spectacle that embraces all life forms from the microscopic fungal network to the blue whale.

The Pigeon Guillemot may not be a household word in every house, but now this seabird has some street cred.