Subject: Skagit County Long-billed Curlew, Wilson's Phalaropes
Date: Aug 31 09:47:32 2004
From: Scott Atkinson - scottratkinson at hotmail.com


Wayne:

Your Wilson's Phalarope is indeed a good record for Skagit County. The
species seems pretty much regular in small numbers in first half May in the
western and central parts of the county, but August birds are much rarer--I
think yours is just the third.

Common Tern & Parasitic Jaeger--it's not surprising you missed them. In
general, the county seems to get less Com. Tern than one might expect, but
you were at good sites with March Pt and Deception Pass; you should also
consider Washington Park (right on the Rosario Strait, you drive through
Anacortes)--probably the best spot for them in fall and good for a number of
other marine species otherwise tough to find in the county. Rosario Beach
near Deception is similarly good. However, it seems that as with Parasitic
Jaeger, Com. Tern tends to peak later in the season--as in latter half Sept
and Oct, and the county's record-highs for P. Jaeger (a mere 5, twice) were
during this migration window. The county's sole Pomarine Jaeger report was
also during Oct.

LB Curlew--in fact the county now has now passed 15 records/reports, yours
is about #17. It is true that spring has more, but there are also several
late August/Sept entries. I heard one on Fir I. a few years ago in early
Sept.

Baird's Sandpiper--of the coastal areas in Aug-Sept, Samish Flats seem to
get less than Fir I. Try the "southern West 90" area (the sharp 90-bend in
the La Conner-Fir I. road, a few miles west of Conway). The ploughed fields
here, especially during high tide at Jensen or just east at the Hayden (Snow
Goose) Preserve, are the county's most reliable spot. They begin showing in
July and seem to peak in August, in recent years sometimes up to 20 at a
time, but last fall I had a tight group of 117 in the field right (inside)
the 90-degree bend (yet even this count falls well below your Vancouver area
record-highs). As always with Baird's, they can be quite inconspicuous on
ploughed fields, listen for the distinctive call with flying birds. At low
or receding tide birds on the fields tend to head for the mudflats.

Scott Atkinson
Lake Stevens
mail to: scottratkinson at hotmail.com

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