Tweeters and Whatcom Birders,

On Tuesday, March 22, in the early afternoon, I spent about 3 hours
birding the Lummi Flats area near Ferndale. Unfortunately, I picked
one of the windiest days of the month-- steady NE "outflow winds" of
about 20 to 30 MPH. Landbirding was almost a total loss, and it was
hard to see birds in the choppy waters of Lummi Bay, but visibility
was good for raptors and waterfowl in the fields (some of which still
had standing water).

The most noteworthy observation was a group of 80 TUNDRA SWANS in the
field NW of the intersection of Slater Road and Haxton Way. Tundra
Swans seem to be scarce in winter now in this area, so I suspect this
was a group of migrants. The only TRUMPETER SWANS I saw were a
separate group of 3 birds near the intersection of Kwina and Hillaire
Roads. (In the Vancouver, BC area where I live, the last Trumpeters
seem to have departed more than a week ago-- a good 2 weeks earlier
than usual.)

Also of interest were a single ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK along South Red River
Road east of Haxton Way (scarce this winter), and at least 150 BRANT
in Lummi Bay, seen from the aquaculture dyke.

Please note that birding from the Lummi aquaculture dyke, or anywhere
off the main roads on the Lummi Reservation, requires a permit from
the Lummi Nation (obtainable from their office on Kwina Road).

Wayne Weber
Delta, BC
contopus at telus.net