Sunday's SAS trip to the Stillaguamish/Skagit Flats was thoroughly enjoyed
by all, thanks to the great leadership of Kent and Marilyn - We had a
beautiful (non-windy) sunny day, and small flocks of trumpeter swans and
larger flocks of snow geese were present in fields near the water (although
we were fooled from afar by one field filled with decoys). Pheasants, great
blue herons, and night-herons (along with an abundance of hunters,
unfortunately) were present, along with a variety of raptors, including many
red-tailed hawks, a few rough-legged hawks, very close-up and personal views
of harriers hunting, about 10 bald eagles, two peregrine falcons, a kestrel,
a Cooper's hawk, and one short-eared owl. Although we were suitably
impressed, the veteran "flats-watchers" seemed disappointed in the low
numbers of raptors observed, probably contributed to by predominantly frozen
fields. Perhaps because of this, we were treated to several aerial displays
of different kinds of raptors interacting over the same hunting grounds.
Along with the geese and swans were large flocks of dunlins, wigeons, and
mallards, with a few pintails, pied-billed grebes, and goldeneyes present on
open water. Large flocks of sparrows were everywhere in the brambly field
margins, those we observed contained ubiquitous song sparrows along with
good numbers of chipping sparrows and a few Lincoln's and golden-crowned
sparrows. The usual complements of kinglets, chickadees, wrens, towhees,
juncos, hairy and downy woodpeckers, flickers, gulls (ring-billed and mew),
starlings, and blackbirds were also present, along with kingfishers, varied
thrushes, and mourning doves. All in all, a very productive day and well
worth a trip. Now if only we'd had enough daylight for the Samish flats, as
well.....

Teresa Michelsen
Inglewood, WA
temi461 at ecy.wa.gov