Hello all-

Today, 9/28, Valerie Shahan and I birded around the bays and shores
near Blaine, WA, within sight of Canada. I wish I could provide
specific locations, but I have horrible short-term geographical memory.
If you want specifics, you can contact Valerie at
Valerie.Shahan at wwu.edu.

Our first locale was a park on the water, which I was told had been
designated a Nationaly Important Bird Area, and true to it's
designation, it was covered in birds. Resting on the mud near some
pilings were a flock of 10-15 Black Bellied Plovers (a life bird for
myself) with a few Black Turnstones running around, between, and
through them. An inconsiderate citizen allowed their dog onto the mud
flats to chase the poor birds, which Valerie thankfully put a swift
stop to. From there, and estuary east of the park was filled with
ducks, Northern Pintails, Green-Winged Teal, Mallards, and American
Wigeon, exhibiting a wide range of plumages, from eclipse to crisp
breeding plumage, and all variations in between. A monstrous flock of
birds, close to 600+, I would guess.

>From the estuary, we continued to a nearby pier (again, I appologize
for the ambiguity of the locales), where a series of calls from a
nearby wharehouse gave us temporary puzzlement. From the same point
came the calls of a Peregrine Falcon, American Kestrel, Red-Shouldered
Hawk, and several others that I did not recognize. Oupon examination,
we found that it was a recording being played over a loudspeaker,
presumably to scare away gulls, pigeons, etc. The gulls had discovered
the ruse, however; several birds rested indifferently nearby. From the
pier, Horned Grebe, Red-Necked Grebe, Common Loon, and further out in
the water, Surf and White-Winged Scoters, Western Grebes. We then
walked down to a boat launch on the south side of the dock, where we
saw several more of the above mentioned birds, as well as roosting
Killdeer and Yellowlegs sp. (undecided, but sneaking suspicion of
Lesser).

>From there, we finished the day by driving down Portal Road to a spit
on the opposite side of the bay, where we saw more of the same. We
were fortunate enough to come across two beautiful male Harlequin
Ducks, both in fresh, crisp, colorful plumage. Stunning. Also seen
were a haul-out of Harbour Seals, perhaps 30 of the animals sleeping on
an abandoned dock and surrounding floating logs.

And that is about all. Valerie, if you would like to fill in the
specifics location-wise, and everything that I know I've left out, it
would be great. Goodbye, and Good Birding from WWU! Go Vikings!

Chris Duke
dukec at cc.wwu.edu
Bellingham, WA