Dear Tweeters,

Howard and Thais Armstrong and I went for a Skagit County century day on Sunday, May 27. It was a Dickensian day (best of times, worst of times).

We spent most of the day wondering if we would be able to reach the hundred species mark. Our trip started out with an inexplicable strike-out on Soras at the wetlands of SR 20 milepost 76, at a quarter past one in the morning. We would go on to miss the Sora at every one of the later spots we tried--spots that almost always produce them. Luckily, Howard heard a GREAT HORNED OWL while we were listening for the Sora. That owl turned out to be the only one of the day, not counting the cooperative Barn Owl in a friend's barn.

We drove east and spent hours fruitlessly walking around logging roads in the darkness, missing all of the usual owls in a drizzle. That drizzle turned to rain up on Sauk Mountain, where we missed Fox Sparrow and Red-breasted Nuthatch.

Things picked up at Van Horn (east of Concrete), where we found "all the swallows" (6 species, all the ones on the list except for Purple Martin). The Bank Swallow there was the second one to turn up there this month, but it is not really a place where one expects them.

One of our best spots was the West Ninety, where a lot of waterfowl were concentrating. There was a single GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE out with some Canadas. Mallards were joined by Baldpate, Pintail, a couple of unidentified scaup, and some Green-winged Teal.

Nearby at Alice Bay was a WHIMBREL trying to remember which way he was supposed to migrate. He was the only shorebird on the mud.

At Samish Island we missed the House Wrens. We were getting nervous by this time.

In the little slough (I think it is called Big Indian Slough) south of the south end of the Padilla Bay Trail, Thais found the bird of the day--a WILSON'S PHALAROPE. While Howard and I were straining our eyes, trying to turn a distant clod of muck into a plover, Thais pointed out the phalarope, which was about thirty feet away.

At Washington Park in Anacortes, the seabirds made amends for all the missing migrants. There were lots of RHINOCEROS AUKLETS, a COMMON MURRE, and 3 BONAPARTE'S GULLS. The feeding action was quite intense, and lasted over an hour, despite the big crowd of holiday makers on shore and boatmen in the water.

At the Fir Island Game range we saw what has to be the latest GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW I have ever seen in Washington. It had a golden crown, but didn't look as spiffy as it could have. Just one more sunflower seed and maybe the hormones might kick in for him.

We also found a few Bitterns and Virginia Rails there, and enjoyed a relaxing walk after a challenging day. There were lots of nice views of waxwings to be savoured as the sun set.

By day's end we had found 111 species as a group, with individual totals of 110, 109, and 108.

This was the first time I had tried the century day on the three-day weekend. I don't think I will plan any future Skagit Big days around Memorial Day, though. There was a lot of traffic, a lot of noise in some key listening spots, and a frightening dearth of certain migrants. However, it was a lot of fun, and we saw quite a few birds that we would have missed on an earlier date.

Good birding,

Gary Bletsch



Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch

near Lyman (Skagit County), Washington

garybletsch at yahoo.com


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