Hi Tweeters -
[sorry for the day-late post - my internet connection took a 1/2 day off]
Yesterday, for a change of pace, I decided to set out to see how many
counties I could see Snowy Owls in in a single day. I couldn't have
asked for a more beautiful day out there, with shooting stars at the
coast to begin with and clear views of the mountains all day. I
could, however, have asked for more hours of daylight -- couldn't we
have an irruption around Summer Solstice? Is that too much to ask??

Anyway, here's a run-down of a rather different day of birding:
Started in Seattle, well before 4:00, armed with coffee and lots of
old tapes. [and forgot my Delorme]

6:30, started hiking out to Damon Point, Ocean Shores, Grays Harbor
Co. By 7:15, out at near the point, I had seen my first 2 Snowy Owls
of the day, one perched and one flying by. As I headed back toward
the car, steams of Dunlin were flying from the ocean side across the
marshy area into the bay - at head level. Very cool experience of
having hundreds & hundreds of Dunlin pass by so closely.

9:30, Luhr Beach, Thurston County. 2 Snowy Owls were readily found on
the 'nearby' edges of Nisqually. It took a bit more luck though to
find a sure Snowy over in Pierce County. The glare and shimmer from
the bright sun worked against me. Fortunately, one of the white blobs
I was watching through my scope finally decided to pop up and fly
around. Yay. 3 counties, 5 owls, not yet 10am.

11:00, Mason County, just south of Potlatch SP. I had to dip
somewhere, and this most likely spot lived up to the bad portents --
no successful reports had come in on the 'mouth of the Skykomish'
Snowys in a few days, the distance was huge, and it involved looking
directly south-east - right about where a late-morning sun was
hanging out. I tried for longer than I should have, but never came up
with anything that wasn't more likely to be a gull or a pale piece of
driftwood.

As a really excellent consolation, though, I did find the Rock
Sandpiper that several people have mentioned. It was right where last
reported, on a floating dock with a flock of Dunlin, just north of
Potlatch SP [viewed from the park]. They were all resting there, and
eventually the waves turned the dock around and revealed the ROSA
sitting on one of the edges, looking up occasionally.

Onward, to Clallam County!
A little behind schedule, a bit after 1:00, I arrived at Ediz Hook. I
didn't notice any Snowys on the 'inward' [right] side as I was
driving in, so I went out to the point and looked on the outside,
onto the Coast Guard base, through the gap in the fence. And there
was a very heavily marked Snowy ! Of the Snowys I got good looks at,
this was definitely the most barred one of the lot.

Leaving around 1:45, I realized I wasn't going to make the 2:15
Keystone ferry out of Port Townsend. The next ferry wasn't until
3:45, which kind of nixed hopes of birds in Skagit.

Nevertheless, I would still arrive at Keystone with enough light left
to hope for the Island County Snowy. As I rode the ferry over [many
Common Murres, Marbled Murrelets, & Pigeon Guillemots, but no
Ancients - and no glimpses of a Marrowstone Island Snowy, though it
seems like a great place for a Jeff Co one...], I realized that I
really didn't know whether the 'Keystone Spit' mentioned in the posts
about the Keystone Snowy was to the right or the left of the ferry
exit. I asked a ferry worker which side they considered the 'Keystone
Spit' and they pointed me left [north/west] off the ferry.
Fortunately, without losing too much time, I quickly figured out that
I didn't know how to get to the shoreline to the north. Since the way
right [south/east] looked more 'spit-like' anyway, I turned back and
hoped for luck.

My first bit of luck came in the form of 2 locals waiting for the bus
at the ferry dock, who I passed on foot as I headed into the park
there - I heard them talking about the Snowy Owl! They had seen it
yesterday, and were able to get me headed in the right direction.
Back in the car, down the road [south/east, right off the ferry] a
little bit, and into the next access road on the right, I pulled in
and immediately had an owl pop up! My excitement decreased a little
when I realised it was a Short-eared Owl, not a Snowy. I parked at
the gate, walked in a little [afraid the gate would be closed soon ,
as it was dusk], and as soon as I got up on the high ground I saw
Snowy Owl #7 for the day. It was a couple hundred yards away, but
quickly flew to a nice exposed perch and proceeded to stretch and bob
as it seemed to be contemplating dinner.

On the way home, just in case, I do admit I pulled in to the North
Fork & Jensen Access points in Skagit County, just in case a Snowy
was sitting right at the lot. But it was after 6:00 by then, very
dark, and I wasn't up for any long waits.

So, final tally:
7 Snowys seen in 5 different counties. Oh, and 550 miles over 16 hrs.

With a little better planning [or more owls showing up before long],
I think it would be pretty easy to do better than this [one easier
possibility: Substitute King for Grays Harbor, saving enough time to
make it back for late-in-the-day Skagit & maybe even Snohomish owls]
- for now though, I had a great day but I think I'm going back to
taking one county at a time for a while....


Matt Bartels
Seattle, WA









--