Tweeters,

I searched from about 8:30 am to 11:00 am for the Samish Island Falcated
Duck reported by Dennis Paulson on Sunday, Feb 27th, alas with no luck. 5
other birders were there for the last couple hours.

The location reported is just as the Samish Island Road reaches Samish
Island (Delorme pg 109, D5). Good off-street parking is available there at
Scott Road. Be careful with parking and scope location as there is a lot of
vehicle traffic to and from Samish Island.

The huge flock of American Wigeons mixed with Northern Pintails was feeding
in the flooded fields to the south and west of Samish Island Rd. A scope
was essential. The flock was partly on a small pond and partly in grass and
we could tell there were many more hidden in cornfields. There were also
Wigeons close by on the water looking East from Scott Road. It was cold and
windy which made scoping difficult.

The flock was skittish and lifted several times only to settle back down.
About 11 am, however, the flock lifted and flew away over the dike out of
sight. High tide was about 8 am so we speculated they were moving out into
the bay and around high tide was the best chance to see them in the fields.

Even without the Falcated Duck the flock was rewarding for the amazing
number of Eurasian Wigeons present. One of the other birders scanned
through the flock and counted 56. I had 8 in my scope at one time.

Scott Berglund
Seattle, WA
dabergls at comcast dot net