Today was Day 4 of my search for the Whooper Swan since last Sunday.
I started in Snohomish this morning where I met to birders from
Vancouver who had already been looking for an hour. They had talked
with a fellow who said it had been seen near Conway on Friday. I
hadn't seen a Tweeters report but decided to head for Skagit County
anyway. I methodically worked the fields on the east side of I-5 for
about an hour and a half and then stopped in Conway for a bowl of
salmon chowder. About 12:45 p.m. I decided to call the bird box and
listened to a report filed at 11:38 a.m. that the Whooper was on the
Pioneer Highway north of Stanwood near Mill Creek. I knew the
reporter meant to say Mill Town and that was only a couple of miles
from where I was. I stopped to glass one flock of swans before I
reached a flock of 28 birds in a field between a quarter and a half
mile south of Mill Town. I pulled into a wide spot on Swanson
Private Lane, well off the highway, and set up the scope. BINGO!
The Whooper! I called Ann Marie Wood and told her to jump on the
road. So there I sat, scoping the swan until Ann Marie arrived 45
minutes later. It was great to have someone there with whom I could
share the thrill. I was really surprised that in the hour and a half
I was there, no other birders arrived. That field is just inside
Skagit County, so county listers can go for it again. I hope it
remains in that vicinity so that others can see it tomorrow. I know
I'm not the only one who has been frustrated by missing the swan near
Snohomish.

Good birding,
Carol Riddell
Edmonds