Hello Tweets,

Today my mother and I ventured north taking advantage of the good weather to
attempt to relocate the FALCATED DUCK near Samish Island,after hearing that
it was last seen flying over the dike towards Padilla Bay after 3:30pm on
the 21st by a few observers as noted on the latest Birdbox transcription
onto Tweeters. Communication among birders on the 22nd and 23rd could have
been better, but our efforts paid off upon our third attempt.We gained
access to the dike bordering Padilla Bay immediately west of the West 90
ponds parking lot where the male Falcated Duck was well observed at 1pm
offshore in our Leica spotting scope swimming mainly by itself, but near a
small flock of Am.Wigeon and observed for 20 minutes before flying off to
the north. The bird could not be relocated after 1:22pm,despite a walk along
the dike as far north as the Padilla Bay Greenhouse and a fairly quality
search through good numbers of Am.Wigeon close to shore. The male Falcated
Duck was immediately located by the noticeably larger,stockier structure
compared to the nearby Am.Wigeons with minor details and features noted in
our binoculars, then ALL the main key features were observed during the 20
minute observation, but the bird never came inshore more than 20 yards in
the fairly rough water during our visit, but views of the bird were still
good. We thank Keith Brady upon his personal information regarding his
experience of the Falcated Duck that was noted at Tofino on Vancouver Island
in January 1995,mainly telling us that the bird was observed on saltwater.
Other species noted during our visit at the West 90 ponds and associating
dike included:

1 male Common Teal
42+ Eurasian Wigeons
1 "Harlan's"Red-tailed Hawk
5 Rough-legged Hawks(4 light-morph birds,1 dark-morph bird)
1 adult Peregrine Falcon
26 Savannah Sparrows
3 Lincoln's Sparrows


We started our day in Blaine at 8:45am along Marine Drive, where weather
conditions were very calm and the sky clear and sunny. We observed the
first-year YELLOW-BILLED LOON at 9am at the west end of Marine Drive at the
mouth of Drayton Harbor amongst 12 Common Loons and up to 92 Pacific Loons
offshore,presumably the same individual observed by Marv Breece,Jack Kitner
and others most recently. Other highlights along Marine Drive during our
visit included:

12 Red-throated Loons
7 Eared Grebes
28+ Long-tailed Ducks(Oldsquaw)
1 Marbled Godwit(observed from Marine City Park foraging on the exposed
mudflats)

We continued south heading towards the Samish Flats and rescued a immature
Peregrine Falcon along Cook Rd., after it was chased by a Common Raven then
hit a high trailer and was immediately grounded. The bird appeared stunned
and obtained some partial bleeding, but we felt compelled to rescue the
bird, as it would have easily been struck by another vehicle on the road. We
attempted to locate and deliver the bird to Bud Anderson at his residence
near the town of Bow, but he was unavailable and out of town. We obtained a
large enough box to hold the bird, hoping to help the bird partially recover
as it seemed to help and the bird kept quite all day,until we arrived home
in Tacoma and placed the bird in a large cage. We are unfamiliar in what
exactly to feed this bird, as it seems to have greatly recovered, but it
could have internal injuries unseen. The bird is very alert and wary of our
closeness, and does not show any physical injuries upon it's structure. We
think the bird is physically healthy, but should be checked by a
professional.


Good birding,

Ruth and Patrick Sullivan
GODWIT at worldnet.att.net