Subject: Skagit Wildlife Area - Redpolls
Date: Nov 25 13:34:50 2001
From: MarkJtn at aol.com - MarkJtn at aol.com


I spent about 2 1/2 hours birding the south unit of the Skagit Wildlife Area
11/24. The place was absolutely crawling with hunters. Many were walking
the dikes. Others were using boats and some were working dogs in the fields.
I spoke with a few of them and none I spoke to had bagged or even fired a
shot at anything, although I heard a lot of shooting at some distance. I saw
no ducks, except a few high fly overs. The birds clearly know it's not safe
there.

Amongst all of this, with the exception of waterfowl, the birding was quite
good. Highlights were:
Virginia Rail: a few
Purple Finch: 4
Greater Yellowlegs: 6
Short-eared Owl: 1
Common Redpoll: one flock of 15, feeding in trees along the spur trail that
ends at
the river mouth. It appeared to be a pure flock,
with no Pine
Siskins mixed in. I scanned a couple of large
Pine Siskin flocks,
but saw no Redpolls in them.

Considering the hunting pressure on the area, it seems to me it should be
tripled or quadrupled in size. This would provide hunters with a much better
experience (they were basically hunting on top of each other), while at the
same time providing more much needed habitat for birds. This may not help
waterfowl much, but all other birds would probably benefit greatly.

Mark Johnston
Kent, WA