Hi Tweets,

Bob Flores saw the Falcated Duck on Tuesday morning at about 8:00 am, south
of the west 90 in the grass area near the dike. It is a fair slog, but
doable in regular boots. Alas, I was at the other end of the field and
missed it.

On Thursday morning there were about 8-10 people covering the area,
primarily at the base of Samish Island. I walked the entire dike from west
of the W. 90 and around the south end and back through the fields. Fair
numbers of Wigeon - maybe about a 1000 all told, but nowhere near the 5,000
I sorted through a few weeks ago. No Falcated Duck was found through about
12:00. The tides are going out in the middle of the day, so earlier is
definitely better, while the rafts are near the dikes.

I did see a few birds of interest. A Cinnamon Teal was in a field 1/2
miles south of the Samish T (near the W. 90). Mixed in were several
American Wigeon males with the all cream colored head and the dramatic
swoosh of a green eye stripe. I saw about 3 birds in this plumage
variation. Any comments on this plumage?

At the base of Samish Island there was still a good number of Eurasian
Wigeon. On Tuesday I counted a high of 72 in that one area alone. I even
managed to find a female of the rufous morph. Amazing the variation you
can find when you stare long enough at the same flock.

I do wonder how much longer the wigeons will hang around. You know the
season is changing when the Violet-Green Swallows are swooping around the
young Rough-legged Hawks.

Good Birding,



Marcus Roening
Tacoma, WA
marcus.d.roening at gsk.com