Hi Tweets

Several stalwart ELWAS birders made the trip over to Whidbey Island on Thursday, August 17th. We started out under overcast skies, but the clouds took much longer to burn off than predicted. While cars were boarding the ferry at Mukilteo, there was a Marbled Murrelet in breeding plumage just off the port bow. It very inconsiderately decided to fly away north before all participants could arrive to see it. Over on Whidbey the Ewing Rd. wetland has dried up, but we did have some Band-tailed Pigeons on tree tops. The Deer Lagoon access at Sunlight Beach was totally exposed because of a very low tide. Numbers of Western and a few Least Sandpipers foraged at a distance with some Killdeer. We walked along the dike on the east side of the lagoon and got nice looks at a couple of Greater Yellowlegs. Down the channels to the east were Gadwall, Mallards, a Pied-billed Grebe and several Canada Geese. On Lincoln Rd we had an immature Cooper's Hawk perched and a Virginia Rail called several times in the marsh along the boardwalk. A Black-bellied Plover appeared for an instant out at the water, but quickly walked out of sight.

Still overcast, we had a nice flock of small birds when we arrived at Earth Sanctuary. A number of Chestnut-backed Chickadees, a couple of Black-capped Chickadees, a Red-breasted Nuthatch worked the trees over and we heard Golden-crowned Kinglets. At the big pond we saw Mallards, Wood Duck, Barn and Violet-green Swallows. An immature Osprey came in for a brief touchdown on a snag branch about 40 feet away, lifted off and circled several times trying to decide where to land. This gave us a chance for great views.

Down at Double Bluff the mudflats of Useless Bay were fully exposed and not much was out on the water, but a couple of Rhinoceros Auklets flew by and a very distant Common Murre floated on the surface. A Caspian Tern lazed on the mud along with Glaucous-winged, California and Mew Gulls (the latter the first I have seen back down here). At the access to at the end of the Useless Bay Colony road we saw hundreds of swallows including Barn, Cliff, Violet-green and Northern Rough-wing (only one) working the marsh over. A few Savannah Sparrows were present, several Yellowlegs were there, a small flock of Ruddy Ducks, a distant Northern Harrier perched waaaaay over on the other side of the marsh, a small flock of juvenile Brown-headed Cowbirds were along the path.

A quick stop at Holmes Harbor in Freeland showed more yellowlegs and included our first Lesser Yellowlegs. Bush Point was generally inactive with one or two Pigeon Guillemots, a Rhinoceros Auklet accompanying some flyby Surf Scoters. A Belted Kingfisher zoomed by. The pond at the Admirals subdivision had both yellowlegs, and a Belted Kingfisher made a successful hover, dive and catch.

Crockett Lake had very high water with the only exposed mud on the south side. Several hundred peeps were present with the majority being Western Sandpipers, a handful of Least Sandpipers and two Baird's Sandpipers with a single Red-necked Phalarope. A few yellowlegs were around, Killdeer and Semipalmated Plovers, and a small flock of the Caspian Terns were taking it easy. Unusually, there were no dowitchers around. A very young juvenile Savannah Sparrow (still had many, many streaks on the breast) perched on a stick looking like it was waiting for food. Down by the ferry landing a group of gulls lazed on the jetty including Heermann's Gulls, three Pelagic Cormorants were on the old platform and lots of Pigeon Guillemots were on the platform and doing a ballet on the water.

A number of small birds worked the trees over while we were at the picnic area at Fort Casey. Chestnut-backed Chickadees, possible kinglets (too active to identify), a Western Wood-Pewee made a brief stop, a few Dark-eyed Juncos flew through. A bit later while walking the area we saw Yellow-rumped and Orange-crowned Warblers, and had an excellent look at a perched Great Horned Owl.

The tide was extremely high when we reached Kennedy Lagoon leaving no mud or rocks for shorebirds, so we went out to the end of Libby Road. A couple of Harlequin Ducks floated offshore. As we turned north on West Beach Road a Red-tailed Hawk took off. At the Hastie Lake Road access we had more Harlequin Ducks, Surf Scoters, Common Loon and Pigeon Guillemots, a distant Marbled Murrelet, a couple of Red-necked Grebes and two Pacific Loons. The water was much too high to leave any rocky areas for Black Oystercatcher so we missed that one. From the high overlook at Swantown there were many birds out on the Strait of Juan de Fuca, including Pigeon Guillemot, Rhinoceros Auklet, Surf Scoter, White-winged Scoter, Common Loon, Red-necked Grebes and Double-crested Cormorant. Across the road Bos Lake had some distant Northern Pintail, a distant Northern Shoveler, Mallards, Western and Least Sandpipers and a Northern Harrier. On the far side of the lake were some Long-billed Dowitchers.

Because of the tide we saw no rocky shorebirds at Oak Harbor, but gulls were loafing on the piers along with Harbor Seals. The pond at Dugually Bay had Great Blue Heron, Canada Goose, Spotted Sandpiper, Mallards, Northern Pintail, Hooded Merganser and Green-winged Teal.

A quick stop on the way home at the Jensen Access on Fir Island had an American Kestrel along the road, revealed hundreds of gulls along the edge of the open water, and a really distant scoped look at two Bald Eagles (our first of the day).

At other spots along the way we saw Sharp-shinned Hawk, Bonaparte's, Ring-billed and California Gulls, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Northern Flicker, American Crow, American Robin, European Starling, Spotted Towhee, Song Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird (four at Deer Lagoon, the only ones of the trip), Brewer's Blackbird, House Finch, American Goldfinch and House Sparrow.

It finally cleared about 3:30 just before we had to head for home, but we had a great day with lots of really excellent looks at interesting birds. Our final total was 81 species.

It was a good day!

Brian H. Bell