As of Sunday, 12 March, early afternoon, there were still eight Snowy Owls
among the driftwood at Boundary Bay, BC., near the foot of 72nd Street.
Though there was lots of room up and down the beach, the owls were clustered
close together. Most had lots of barring, but there was one owl who was
mostly white with only a few bars on his/her back.

The day, pleasantly sunny and breezy, was mostly spent getting from Seattle
to Boundary Bay. Also seen at either 104th Street access to the dike (where
there's a nice little public parking lot at an airfield) or at 72nd Street,
were Green-winged Teal, Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveler, a brief glimpse
of a Short-eared Owl, and either Greater or Lesser Yellowlegs, I think--the
legs were bright yellow. There were two of them at the shoreline. Which
would be more likely there, if it were one or the other?

Though the daylight was waning by the time we got back to the Skagit/Samish
R. flats, we were determined to try to see more birds after getting
sustenance at the Rhododendron Cafe. We hurried to the West 90, hoping to
see more Short-eared Owls. We didn't see any of those, but we were rewarded
as dusk settled over the fields by a view of a gorgeous Barn Owl coursing
over the fields to the south of the parking lot. A three-owl day!!

Too much time was spent waiting to pass through customs, going both ways. I
think we spent about 30-40 minutes heading north at the Peace Arch crossing.
So on the way back south, we saw a sign that said the wait at the Peace
Arch was 30 minutes and at Pacific (not sure of exact name--just east of
Peace Arch) "N/A." So we headed to the N/A--waited there an interminable
hour--and decided the "N/A" stands for "Not Advisable."

--Anna Coles
Greenwood neighborhood
Seattle

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