Dear Tweets,

Yesterday, Nancy Taylor and I had an extraordinary day on the Samish Flats.
Incredible birds, and great mix of birders out there chasing the sky. When I
realized that the several days of fog had lifted in the morning, I called
Nancy and we began to dream out loud of having that fantasy 6 falcon day.
With a new report of a recent sighting of the Eurasian Kestrel, it seemed
like a real possibility. We made a beeline to the flats from Bellingham and
arrived about 9:30 on the Bayview - Edison Rd. at the spot reported by Don
McCall via Bud Anderson. We found the Prairie Falcon, a Peregrine, AND the
Eurasian Kestrel all within one 180 degree sweep of the scope. The kestrel
was on the ground sitting on a dirt clod about 150 yds. straight out at the
western edge of the plowed field. We were elated at our good fortune. After
some modest high-fiving, we looked at each other and realized we were half
way to a 6 falcon day, in about 15 minutes! We quickly went down to the
D'Arcy Rd. blueberry farm where we picked up the American Kestrel pair.
Another half mile down D'Arcy, we had a beautiful Merlin on a fencepost
doing that falcon tai chi stretching thing in the morning sunlight. Bout
this time we began to feel cocky, which was soon mediated by feelings of
guilt...this was too easy! But then we figured, remember all those hours and
days of roaming the flats in gales...besides, somebody's got to do it, might
as well be us. We got over it pretty quickly. Then we blitzed over to the
Field Rd. 90, and whoa and behold, out in the field on the fencepost sat a
large, grey raptor, preening in the sun! As we were setting up scopes, Jim
Flynn and friends from the Skagit Audubon CBC pulled up. Nancy and I were
already claiming a 6 falcon day. Unfortunately, as we began to scope the
perched bird, it decided to fly...revealing himself to be not a Gyrfalcon,
but a male Northern Harrier! Dang! Well, that would have been too easy. I
mean, 6 falcons in 30 minutes? So we decided to settle for five, a first for
Nancy.

Through Jim, we heard a rumor that a Gyr had been seen at the west 90, so we
circled back, catching up with the Skagit CBC threesome. It was there we had
one the best finds of the day. First, Jim found 2 Barn Owls. Then we picked
up a dark buteo soaring out by the dike. After some quick review, we
realized we had a beautiful immature dark-morph Rough-legged. It would be
great if folks might double-check the i.d. on this bird (Bud?). We heard at
least one reliable report of a gyrfalcon, so Nancy and I did some pretty
serious combing until about 2:00 when we had to get back to B'berg. While we
didn't find that sixth falcon species, we did have the five, including 5
individual Peregrines (including one immature raising havoc on the hunt
among Dunlin and Starlings at the mouth of the Samish River). With the sun
out, a brisk northerly clearing the air, and just scads of raptors up and
about, it was a classic magical Samish Flats day. And it was really great to
see birding friends from over the past years. Ruth, did you find that gyr
after we left?

Good birding to all,
Joe Mackie
jmackie at cc.wwu.edu
Bellingham