Dear Tweeters,

On Saturday, Bob Kuntz led a WOS trip to the Fir
Island Game Range. These lucky birders found a
LONG-EARED OWL! The bird was roosting at midday. It
was about thirty meters north of the first footbridge
on the right that one would reach, walking the dike
from the headquarters parking lot. This bird was
observed for quite a while on a low perch, between the
dike and the slough; unfortunately, a dog ran into the
brush and flushed the bird, and it was not relocated.

There are very few records of Long-eared Owl from
Skagit County, although the species has actually bred
near Rockport.

Today I spent about three hours, from 3:00 to 6:00,
searching in vain for this owl. It was pretty quiet,
but I did see one russet PINE GROSBEAK. This bird was
eating buds. It was in an area that very few birders
bother with--reached by crossing the bridge mentioned
above, then going right, then into a lane cut into the
riparian brush, then out into fields and hedgerows
beyond, several hundred yards beyond the bridge. The
grosbeak was more or less shadowing a big flock of
Red-winged Blackbirds.

At dusk, there was a nice BARN OWL that I thought at
first might be the elusive Long-eared. This owl was
coursing over the fields to the east of the section of
dike mentioned above. Oddly enough, in quite a few
visits this winter to the Game Range, I have not seen
or heard the Great Horned Owl that so many other
birders have found, but have seen the Barn Owl
twice--usually a much harder bird to find there.

Lastly, since other birders have been mentioning signs
of spring, I will add that on Saturday I saw an
unidentified swallow at the Kent Ponds. Yay!




Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch

near Lyman (Skagit County), Washington

garybletsch at yahoo.com




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