I spent the first half of today (3/26) on the Samish Flats and the second at Skagit Wildlife Management Area.

The birding is still pretty good on the flats. Bald Eagles are everywhere. At about 7:30 AM a single SE OWL was on the hunt at the west 90. Also at that time there were 4 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS on fence posts, also at the west 90. A small flock of BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS had at least 2 individuals in near breeding plumage. A pair of AMERICAN KESTRELS were easy to spot on a fence row on D'Arcy Road. At the Samish River bridge on Bayview Edison Road a MERLIN flew in over my head and landed above me in a tree allowing full frame scope views. It doesn't get any better!

At SKAGIT WILDLIFE I had my first RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRDS of the year. 5 of them. TREE and VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS flew overhead. There weren't a lot of Sparrows. I found WHITE-CROWNED, GOLDEN CROWNED, SONG and 2 LINCOLN'S SPARROWS.

For SNOW GOOSE lovers, there is still a very large flock on Fir Island.

Marv Breece
Seattle, WA