Hi Tweeters,

I went up to Skagit County today with my son Deyland to look at the snow geese and swans. After watching them for a while, we spent a couple of hours scoping at the North Fork Access on Fir Island. As soon as we walked up onto the dike from the road, we saw 6-8 w. meadowlarks appearing and disappearing in the grass. Four bald eagles were circling overhead, several red-tailed hawks were in view, 3 or 4 n. harriers were gliding about, and a merlin was sitting in a small tree nearby. After walking on the dike trail for a short while, we began to see the short-eared owls that have been mentioned on Tweeters several times recently. They were very acitve, screeching loudly at one another and engaging in dog fights with the occaisional n. harrier. They almost always succeeded in chasing the harriers away when this happened. At one point, we could see four owls near one another at the same time. There were at least six altogether and probably a bit more than that, although i!
t was difficult to count them as they were constantly disappearing and reappearing. I was particularly struck by the differing shapes and proportions of the owls and harriers, but the similarity of their movements nonetheless. We also spotted was a Wilson's snipe at the Fir Island Farm/Hayton Reserve, along with lots of dunlin. Raptors were everywhere. This was one of my favorite birding days since moving to this state; I could have watched these owls all day.

Lonnie Somer
Olympia, WA
wheelermombi at comcast.net