Tweeters,

Today at about 2:00 PM, I relocated the AMERICAN AVOCET first reported
last Saturday (Nov 29) by Paul Webster at Alice Bay, at the southeast
end of Samish Island in Skagit County. However, the avocet was on the
opposite side of the bay from where Paul saw it. When Paul saw it, it
was on the shoreline close to the church parking lot on Scott Road,
just off Samish Island Road. When I saw it, the avocet was at the tip
of the long peninsula which extends into the bay from the south side--
at a distance of perhaps 400 metres, but easily visible and easily
identifiable with a spotting scope.

The tide was high during my visit, there was no exposed mud, and the
avocet spent most of its time sleeping at the end of the point.
However, it occasionally woke up and preened for a few minutes. At one
point, when a BALD EAGLE flew over and put a nearby flock of wigeon to
flight, the avocet flew a short distance, landed in shallow water,
slowly worked its way back to the tip of the point, and went to sleep
again. It was still there when I left 40 minutes later.

In about 3 hours of birding the Samish Flats, I could not find the
GYRFALCON, but I did see the following birds of prey:

Bald Eagle 10
Northern Harrier 12
Red-tailed Hawk 9
Rough-legged Hawk 3 (1 light morph, 2 dark morph)
Merlin 1
Short-eared Owl 5

I will post a more detailed report later.

Thanks very much for reporting the Avocet, Paul! This was my
first-ever sighting of the species in western Washington, and a new
one for my Skagit County list. Avocets are rare at any time in
western Washington, and especially so in winter. However-- for those
of you who have not been reading the Vancouver, BC RBA transcripts--
there have been 3 Avocets since mid-October at the Serpentine River
mouth on Mud Bay (the east end of Boundary Bay) in Surrey. It looks
like this will be the second time for Avocets overwintering at this
locality.

Good luck and good birding,

Wayne C. Weber
Delta, BC
contopus at telus.net


----- Original Message -----
From: Paul Webster <paul.webster at comcast.net>
To: tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Saturday, November 29, 2003 7:00 PM
Subject: American Avocet at Samish Island


> This afternoon (11/29) at about 1:00 pm Barbara and I found an
American
> Avocet next to Samish Island, as we stood in the parking lot of the
church
> just above Alice Bay, the water that separates the island from the
Samish
> Flats. (Delorme 109). The avocet was standing in the water next to
a
> Northern Pintail just off the point of land closest to the church.
As we
> were marvelling about the bird Irene Potter from Tacoma drove up and
we all
> tried without success to photograph the avocet through her spotting
scope.
> (sigh!) We need a workshop on digital photography through scopes.
>
> Beyond that, the raptors continue plentiful: Gyr, Peregrine, Merlin
all
> seen, plus Rough-legged Hawks, harriers, and lots of Red-tails --
including
> 1 dark phase bird, and probably a Harlan's (I'll wait for a report
from an
> expert to confirm that one). Someone reportedly also saw a Prairie
Falcon
> in the vicinity. Interesting happenings: three ravens cornered an
injured
> Dunlin and quickly killed it, and a Short-eared Owl repeatedly dived
on a
> perched Rough-legged Hawk while another Short-eared Owl sat nearby
and
> watched.
>
> Paul Webster
> Seattle
> paul.webster at comcast.net
>
>