Hi Tweets

I've had precious little time to bird recently. However, my birder parents
were here for the holidays, so we made sure to get out a bit.

On Thursday the 23rd, we decided to go up and see the trumpeter swans, snow
geese and winter raptors of the skagit area. Unfortunately, we couldn't
see much other than the fog. After lunch in LaConner we did finally see a
few swans in a brief break in the fog, but they disappeared again before we
could identify the species. Total count for the day:
Great Blue Heron
Swan Sp.
Northern Harrier
Red-tailed hawk (many along I-5)
Rough-legged Hawk
Glaucous-winged & hybrid gulls
Red-winged Blackbird
Crows
(plus Starling, House Sparrow, Rock Dove)


On Sunday we decided to head down to Greenlake and hope things would be a
little more interesting. My mother had never seen Eurasian Widgeons, so it
was an opportunity for a life bird for her. It turned out to be one of
those magnificent Greenlake experiences.

We got to the AquaTheater parking area around 11:30 - the sun was fighting
to break through the fog, and it was a mite bit chilly. At the first pier
there to the east of the AquaTheater we stopped and ascertained that there
was a BALD EAGLE on the usual perch on Duck Island (a bit of a distance
from here). We also saw a few of the usual RING-BILLD GULLS, GADWALLS,
AMERICAN COOTS, and MALLARDS. A couple of COMMON MERGANSERS plied the
waters further out, while an occasional PIED BILLED GREBE popped up and
dove again in the shallows.

We started off counter-clockwise. After the big thickets near the
golf-course we encountered our first cluster of 8-10 AMERICAN WIDGEON, but
no European among them. By now the sun had burned through the fog, and it
was becoming an absolutely fabulous day.

We continued onward with more of the same, until we started to approach the
fishing pier on the East side of the lake. We could see dozens of widgeons
on the other side of the pier, and a woman with binoculars on the pier. As
we got a little closer some folks on the paved path started to motion us
away from the
shore, toward the paved path. After a moment of confusion (the widgeons
just aren't that skittish at Greenlake) we realized there was a MERLIN with
a freshly-killed EUROPEAN STARLING right at the lake-shore. We watched for
a while as the MERLIN, which we all determined to be the darker S---- form,
tore away at
the still-struggling Starling. Occasionally, especially when someone would
walk by with a dog, the MERLIN would freeze and cover the kill with it's
wings. Finally it took off with its lunch and flew across the street to
land on the sidewalk at the front steps of a house on N. Greenlake Way East.

In the middle of watching the Merlin, the BALD EAGLE flew over the lake
near us, getting both the widgeons and the Merlin very excited.

The excitement over, we returned to the widgeons and found two male
EUROPEAN WIDGEONS, sleeping with about 50-60 Americans. My Mother got her
photos and some good long looks at the sleeping widgeons, and we continued on.

At the swimming area on the North-east end of the lake, we stopped for
DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS, RING-BILLED GULLS, GLAUCOUS-WING GULLS (&
hybrids thereof), and one lone HERRING GULL on the floating dock. More
widgeons, Coots, Mallards and the usual domestics. Someone was feeding
bread to a crowd of gulls and other freeloaders who. Suddenly, about half
of them dove for the water. Look up! a large female COOPER'S HAWK flashed
by and perched up in a tree by the visitors center. It scoped out the area
for about five minute, while we scoped it out. Then it was off toward the
trees by the playing field.

We continued along with more of the standard waterfowl. On the Aurora side
of the lake we saw BUFFLEHEAD, a lone COMMON GOLDENEYE, and a few NORTHERN
SHOVELERS.


Back home we sat down for a nice relaxing lunch. About half-way through our
lunch, my dad said "look". Outside our dining-room window was a
SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, eyeing the holly bush where our usual crowds of house
sparrows usually congregate. It dove into the holly, but came out
empty-talloned and took off.

What a day!

John