I’m also familiar with a “swashplate”. (The cites I can find give it as one word.) It’s part of the mechanism on a helicopter which changes the pitch of the rotor blades as they rotate.
I’m not surprised SWASH is a word; just a little surprised it’s common enough to be an answer in these puzzles.
LOL, yeah, I leave the owls alone too. They are rather intimidating the way they appear so bold and confident. It always amazes me the way they can fly right overhead and not make a sound.
So you’re near the shore? I figured since you mentioned seagulls. We’re far enough inland that we don’t see them around here.
You’d know it if you came across a Kingfisher. They will draw your attention because they’re quite noisy and very acrobatic.
I’ll have to check out eBird too 
Daily Quordle 843
RAISE
COUNT
COVEY - 3
DECAY - 4
DITTO - 5
TWEAK - 6
Been awhile since I’ve gotten a 6
Daily Sequence Quordle 843
RAISE
COUNT
POUCH - 3
BALMY
GAWKY
DAFFY
JAZZY - 7
TONGA - 8
POSIT - 9
True facts about the owl.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeFxdkaFzRA
Daily Quordle 843
SLATE
CHOIR
COVEN
COVEY (4)
DECAY (5)
DITTO (6)
TWEAK (7)
Nice 6 @chiliwillybing ! 
Daily Sequence Quordle 843’
SLATE
CHOIR
POUCH (3)
MAGMA
DAFFY
JAZZY (6)
TONGA (7)
POSIT (8)
Figuring out that 2nd word was a bit rough. And with Tonga, I only know of the country, so I dismissed it…stared at the keyboard and didn’t see anything else, so I looked it up in case it had another meaning…it’s also a two-wheeled horse-drawn carriage in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India. I’ve never heard of it before, but I learned a new thing, so there’s that - lol.
Yes, we are close to the Puget Sound.
I forgot about that video…it gets a bit dark at the end (but it’s a German fairy tale, so…) 
Daily Quordle 844
CHEAT
ROUND
SLIMY
BREAD
USUAL - 5
SPEAK - 6
DREAD - 7
WOVEN
LOVER - 9
I kinda wasted a guess by jumping staight to BREAD. I still had a guess in hand to play a sleuth word for LOVER/LOWER.
Where? I grew up in Lakewood, before it was Lakewood.
Used to have birds in the backyard that my mom called bluejays; we all found out later they were Steller’s jays. Noisy things, as I recall.
The mantis shrimp on is even better.
Daily Quordle 844
RAISE
COUNT
USUAL - 3
SPEAK - 4
LOVER - 5
BREAD
DREAD - 7
Daily Sequence Quordle 844
RAISE
STICK
SHIFT - 3
AVIAN
AXIOM - 5
LOUSE - 6
CRASH - 7
The board won’t let me paste in my Quordle results. I accidentally posted it in the Wordle thread, and I fixed that, but when I tried to paste it in here, I got an error message saying I already posted the same thing elsewhere. 
Quordle #844: 8-6-4-5
SLATE
CHOIR
WOVEN
LOVER (4)
SPEAK (5)
USUAL (6)
DREAM
DREAD (8)
I remember you mentioning that a while back…I’m up in Seattle. 
And yes, the Steller’s Jays can be rather noisy - lol. They are amusing to watch though with all of their silly antics. One thing I think is funny is I’ll toss out a few peanuts (unsalted in the shell), and they’ll pick up each one to “weigh” it, and they’ll then choose the largest one first, even though they will eventually get all of them anyways (if there’s just one bird that is).
Daily Sequence Quordle 844
SLATE
CHOIR
SHIFT (3)
AMINO
AXIOM (5)
LOUSE (6)
CRASH (7)
I remember when Axion and Axiom both showed up in the same month way back…I failed when it was Axion, but got Axiom. This time, I was also seeing Amino, and it wouldn’t matter which of the three words I went with, they’d tell me what it was if wrong. I don’t think we’ve had Amino yet, so I went for that one.
I lived on Queen Anne Hill for a while. Haven’t been back there in ages; don’t know if I’d even recognize anything, anymore.
Daily Quordle 845
CHEAT
ROUND
CROWD - 3
SLIMY
SHARD - 5
VALOR
LABOR - 7
HUMPH - 8
I could have probably jumped right to SHARD without SLIMY. And HUMPH is a terrible word; I wouldn’t even have guessed it except I think we’ve had it before.
Daily Quordle 845
RAISE
COUNT
CROWD - 3
SHARD - 4
LABOR - 5
HUFFY
HUMPH - 7
I forgot about dumb humph.
Daily Sequence Quordle 845
RAISE
CLOSE
THOSE
MANGY
NOOSE - 5
BROKE
DROVE - 7
METAL - 8
SNIDE - 9
Phew! I got hung up on noose.
Daily Quordle 846
CHEAT
ROUND
SLIMY
USHER - 4
SUAVE - 5
ALIKE - 6
FLAKE - 7
Daily Quordle 845
SLATE
CHOIR
DUMPY
HUMPH (4)
SHARD (5)
CROWD (6)
VALOR
LABOR (8)
Humph? (I forgot we’ve had that one before, but still think it’s an odd answer). Didn’t even see Labor…humph indeed. 