Subject: [Tweeters] A few hours on the Skagit/Samish flats
Date: Nov 5 16:18:23 2006
From: Dennis Paulson - dennispaulson at comcast.net


Hello, tweeters.

Netta Smith and I took a spin up around the Skagit and Samish flats
today (11/5/06) just to get out of the house, after we noticed a few
patches of blue sky appearing.

We thought there had been so much rain that there would be a lot of
standing water, but there wasn't. Either it didn't rain as much up
there, or they have got very good at draining the fields (I believe
farmers get high grades in that area of expertise). The only
shorebirds we saw were several flocks of Killdeers here and there and
a flock of about 50 Western Sandpipers just north of the Skagit Game
Range. That was a surprise. The flock was wheeling back and forth
over a plowed field, flashing brown and white, and I assumed they
were Dunlins. We hadn't seen any during the drive, so we stopped to
look. They didn't let me hold onto my preconception for long,
screaming WESTERN SANDPIPER with every pass in front of us. They
finally landed but in an area out of sight to us, so I couldn't get a
more exact count.

The only unexpected bird was an Osprey winging its way south over Fir
Island, one of the latest I've seen in Washington. Raptors were not
abundant, but we saw an adult Bald Eagle, two Rough-legged Hawks, a
half-dozen Red-tailed Hawks, a couple of distant unidentified buteos,
and a half-dozen Northern Harriers. Falcons were notably absent, I
theorized because there were no shorebirds or ducks.

The ducks were a big surprise; there were essentially none. None on
Padilla Bay, except for perhaps as many as a couple of hundred
scattered way out in the middle; we identified Buffleheads and Surf
Scoters among the closer ones. Only a couple were in the inlet on the
south side of Samish Island, and a few flocks totalling about 100
flew over us there, heading for the coast. There were absolutely none
on any of the ditches or channels or out in the fields anywhere we
went. Where are all the dabbling ducks? Do they entirely vacate the
area during hunting season? That's my hypothesis, but I realized I go
up there relatively rarely in hunting season, so I don't have a good
mental database. There were hundreds of ducks on the Everett sewage
ponds as we passed them, but other than that, I was shocked at the
low numbers.

I assume it's a local phenomenon, but during hunting season do
dabbling ducks just stay away entirely from marshes and ponds and
sloughs in fresh water? There were a few ducks flying along the coast
at the West 90, and the hunters there (lots) were getting in some
shooting.

One neat thing was that the Snow Geese are in. There were gazillions
of them spread all along the south side of Fir Island, some very
close to the road. That's always such a treat. Unlike certain others
who seem to be charmed, we scanned and scanned the flocks and never
found a Blue Goose. But we got great flight photos, and that leads to
a high level of satisfaction.

The other thing we saw of interest, but sad, was one of a pair of
ravens at the West 90 with a hooked bill. The upper mandible was
curved and slightly hooked down at the end and distinctly longer than
normal, extending perceptibly beyond the lower mandible, which was
straight. There was a narrow but obvious (at around 60 meters) gap
between the mandibles with the bill closed. They flew away before I
could get the digiscoping apparatus set up. I don't know if Bud
Anderson and colleagues have seen this there, but it seems to be
another example of the phenomenon recently seen in an alarming number
of raptors.
-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net

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