Dear Tweeters,

I had some enjoyable experiences birding Skagit County
today.

First I visited the Judy Reservoir, off the Old Day
Creek Road that heads east out of Clear Lake. This
reservoir is not named on the DeLorme gazetteer, but
it's by the Morford Road. I was surprised to find 53
Ruddy Ducks on the water there. That is a rather large
flock. Another interesting find there was a big bunch
of Fox Sparrows. There is a hillside covered with
blackberries just west of the reservoir, and I walked
up a dirt road a few feet to check out a
Golden-crowned Kinglet. Then I gave a pygmy-owl hoot
or two, and I was suddenly mobbed by at least 7 Fox
Sparrows (there may have been fifteen of them). They
were all giving their hard "chip" notes at me, and
were accompanied by a Spotted Towhee, several Song
Sparrows, two Golden-crowned Kinglets, and a Steller's
Jay. I don't often find that many Fox Sparrows in one
spot.

After yet another fruitless search for Canvasbacks
and/or Redheads on Clear Lake, Mud Lake, and Beaver
Lake, I drove west on Mud Lake Road. There I chanced
on one of the most interesting aggregations of Bald
Eagles I've seen. There is a seasonal pond in a farm
field there, due south of Francis Road and only about
a mile or so west of Mud Lake. There were about 140
ducks on the east end of the pond (Mallards, Pintail,
and American Widgeon). A Bald Eagle was watching them
from a small tree. Then I noticed two more eagles on
the ground at the west end of the pond. As I watched
these, more eagles came flying in. All told there were
at least 19 Bald Eagles after about twenty minutes.
They kept taking off, flying around, and then landing
by the pond, all in an area about the size of a soccer
pitch. The ducks seemed to pay no heed. Almost all of
the eagles were immatures. Only 4 were adults, plus
one near-adult (whitish head, sullied with dark). Two
of the immatures locked talons and swirled to the
ground. Some of the eagles waded into the pond a few
feet. Later I saw one with something that I first
thought was a snake. It flew up with it, and others
gave chase. Then I figured it had to be
entrails--barring a truly gigantic worm. My best guess
is that there was a large, dead mammal hidden by some
long grass, and the eagles were there to feed on it.
Altogether the scene was more reminiscent of an
African one than the typical Pacific Northwest Bald
Eagle dead-salmon fest.

Later I made still another fruitless search for the
Red-shouldered Hawk at the Fir Island Game Range. I
believe I am now oh-for-twelve on that particular
bird.

Good birding,



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