Just to add my several cents worth to all the Skagit and Samish flats reports
from this last weekend:

Clarice and I wandered around out here Saturday PM, Sunday, and Monday
morning. Everyone else has already reported on the Snowies at Big Ditch and
at the west 90. We saw them too, and likewise were not close enough to see
if one was tagged. Also two peregrines, but no gyr.

So, rather than a list-- some highlights. Good looks at northern shrike at
Jensen access. Lots of immature rough legs on Sat and Mon, but very few in
the fog on Sunday. Much fun watching the short eared owls flit around like
moths and perch on fence posts swiveling their heads.

Neatest bird, to me, was a long eared owl that was hunting in the grass
around the last house on the north side of the road just as it swings to the
northwest and runs in to Samish Island. It was flitting from one fence post
to the next, very close to the road, and fluttering about very much like the
short ears do. What a beautiful face. Makes me want to look more closely at
the presumed short ears when I see them doing their thing over the pastures
out there. (my thanks to the unidentified two birders that saw it first and
told us about it).

Another good experience was sitting in the car (off the road, of course) with
the window down listening to the wings of the huge flocks of falcon fodder
(dunlins) that were in the flooded fields near the "t" between the two
"Samish 90s". As the fog was breaking up on Sunday we were suitably
impressed by the sudden light changes keyed to the changes in pitch of the
whirr, or sometimes the roar, of their wings. As we just listened a harrier
drifted through, and then a small peregrine came by and started playing
games (at least to our eyes). It would race at the harrier, give it a nip
(which the bigger harrier seemed to ignore) then dive in to the dunlin. With
the light the way it was, coming through the fog, the shift of the dunlin
would completely blank out the falcon, and you would lose it until it came
out the other side. Two more passes, at both the flock and the harrier, and
both times it was like the peregrine was disapearing into a dense school of
silver fish like herring. Finally the falcon perched on a pole, with out any
prey, and began preening like it was all a lot of nothing.

Another interesting time was provided by an adult bald eagle (by the way, I
noticed that the other reports I read said little about the large number of
eagles out there already-- I guess baldies are getting more passe than
snowies) that was hover hunting ducks. This was a new one to me, and I
watched for a while with my scope. The eagle hovered above a group of diving
ducks (looked like goldeneye) that were being kept under, and would just come
up for a quick snatch of air while the eagle terrorised them from just a few
feet over the water. Went on for several minutes, with the eagle making some
strikes at the water with no effect. Seemed like an immense amount of work
for the eagle. Then one duck came, I guess, to close to the surface for its
own good, and the eagle snagged it but couldn't get it out of Padilla Bay.
Then I got a good look at an eagle that seemed to be nearly drowned for its
efforts. It spread its wings and pulled, but seemed to be nailed down to the
water. Once all the eagle except for its head was under water. Finally,
after more than a minute, it started flapping with so much effort it was hard
to watch and got airborn with its limp cargo, only to be nailed by the gull
gallery. Two slow circles trying to gain elevation, duck dropped, big
circle, snag duck, slow circle, duck dropped again, big circle, snag duck
again, drop duck again, give up and fly away. I called Bud Anderson about
this and asked about something that occured to me-- whether the eagle might
have been drowning the duck during his long sit on the water-- but he doubted
that they were that smart or that they would ever need to drown their prey.
He mentioned that the bay is shallow enough that the eagle may have been
standing on the bottom, I couldn't say. The hover hunting was great
entertainment, in any case.

Also the swans are showing up, the flocks of pintails are the largest I've
seen, there are plenty of snow geese, black bellied plover, and yellowlegs.
Now-- if the great grey only comes back (missed it last year).
-------------------------------------
Name: Jerry Broadus
jbroadus at seanet.com
901-16th. St S.W.
Puyallup, Wa. 98371
206-845-3156
11/11/96
16:51:45