Somewhere in all my references I remember reading about Eastern Kingbirds nesting on Spencer Is. and I suppose they do as I also saw a family group of 3 birds near the (former) barn area in august 04. I also saw a single bird there in late july of 01. I've meant to check for a nest earlier in the year but have never done so , possibly due to the annual "mosquito fest" at that time. I have had to literally run out of there several times in May and June due to bugs.

After a post last week re spencer, several tweeters emailed re about it's current state. Once you get on the island you can do a loop walk around the south end - across the 'cross dike' and around the extreme south end of the island ( the snohomish county park side ). On the north side ( washington state fish and wildlife dept) you can walk up the west side most of the way but then are stopped by the new breach in the dike. It's a very wide breach so I doubt they plan to bridge it. I checked the state and county websites and did'nt find any more info.

As to hunting, I presume it will still be allowed, however the fact that the game dept area is now tidal may limit the practical hunting time somewhat to high tides. I don't hunt but imagine that even retrievers would have a hard time getting to a duck through the estuary mud at lower tides. As usual the whole south end area is closed to hunting.

In the past the area south of the cross dike has been great for shorebirds as it was open to tidal flow. Now that the whole north end is also open the shorebird activity surely will increase. Last week I saw many Greater Yellowlegs, a few Lessers, several Western Sandpipers, a Spotted Sandpiper, and a number of Killdeers.



Jeff Gibson
Everett WA