Hi Tweets,

Joanne Powell from Spokane joined me today for birding from Silvana
to Anacortes. We had 55 species for the day. Our best birds were a
female TREE SWALLOW at the Stanwood STPs, a field full of AMERICAN
PIPITS on the north side of the entrance road to the Big Ditch, and a
YELLOW-BILLED LOON on the west side of Fidalgo Bay. The loon was
well observed and was feeding near a COMMON LOON, which was nice for
size comparison and contrasting bills. We also enjoyed a pair of
LONG-TAILED DUCKS on Fidalgo Bay and nine HARLEQUIN DUCKS along the
shore of Washington Park in Anacortes. Our only shorebirds were
KILLDEER and DUNLIN. By the time we reached Skagit Bay the tide was
way out and we just couldn't distinguish birds working the mud along
the water's edge. We had a dark juvenile ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK on Eide
Road, and good numbers of BALD EAGLE, including a first-year bird in
Washington Park. We saw no accipiters nor woodpeckers. There were
lots of GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROWS at numerous sites. Our lone RUBY-
CROWNED KINGLET was at the Big Ditch and our lone wren was a WINTER
WREN in Washington Park. Among the several thousand SNOW GEESE that
were close to the road on Fir Island, I noted two neck collars. I
was able to read one and will report the bird on the Patuxent web site.

Good birding,
Carol Riddell
Edmonds