Today I led a Seattle Audubon trip "Accessible Birding" to the Skagit flats and Padilla Bay in intermittent rain, high overcast and occasional windows of blue sky, and wind beginning at 7 mph and increasing significantly over the day. The group wanted to see the Samish flats as well, so I decided to start at Conway and work our way north in the hope of witnessing an afternoon feeding frenzy at the West 90 such as Charlie described 1/28.

0830 A hawk north of the Everett Sewage Treatment Ponds looked surprisingly like a ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK sitting in a tree just a few hundred yards from the freeway as we sped by. I have not seen one so close to a metropolis or freeway. Please feel free to comment on the likelihood of such a sighting.

1000 I was also surprised by a TREE SWALLOW flying with the BARN SWALLOW flock in the Skagit WMA. Although a high flying flock of geese had been spotted on the way up the freeway, no Snow Geese were seen along Fir Island Rd. and the group decided to forego looking for them on back roads in order to get to Padilla Bay closer to high tide.

1150 Today, as earlier this week, I saw a small flock of BARN SWALLOW east of La Conner, this time at the intersection of Chilberg and Best Rds.

We had some nice birds at March Pt. despite choppy waters and not much at Bayview State Park.

1400 The serious rain began as we traversed D'Arcy and Sunset Rds. looking successfully for AMERICAN KESTREL, but missing the Northern Shrike I'd seen on Wednesday. I didn't register the intensity of the wind until we got out of our cars at the West 90. Here, only a few NORTHERN HARRIER were still up, 'though low, in the wind shears. We managed to see the HARLAN'S HAWK in a tiny bush and a grounded SHORT-EARED OWL before discomfort drove the group back to cars and home. Discomfort can have more consequence for the disabled, and I am grateful to these adventurers who came out for the trip.

51 species

Snow Goose
Canada Goose
Trumpeter Swan
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Surf Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Long-tailed Duck
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Barrow's Goldeneye
Common Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Common Loon
Horned Grebe
Double-creasted Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Red-tailed Hawk
Rough-legged Hawk
American Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon
Black-bellied Plover
Dunlin
Mew Gull
Herring Gull
Thayer's Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Short-eared Owl
Belted Kingfisher
American Crow
Common Raven
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
American Robin
Varied Thrush
European Starling
Spotted Towhee
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Purple Finch
House Finch


Patricia Lott
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Seattle, WA
VariedThrush at comcast.net