Hi Tweeters,

Well it took two visiting Floridian birders and one
native Skagitonian to get me to the Whooper Swan.

The swan was virtually in the exact same place Barry
Levine posted about yesterday but I missed it my first
go around. About 1 mile west of I-5 from exit 221 on
Fir Island Road is a big stand alone white church on
the right hand side of the road. I put my scope up on
the little basketball court and got as good a looks at
a rarity as any birder could ask for.
At first the swan was sleeping and it would only poke
its head out now and then. A fellow swan wandered
over to the Whoopers group and woke them all up. The
Whooper took two drinks of water after awakening and I
got to see the big yellow patch on the under side of
the bill. It is oval edged and extends about 1/3+
toward the tip of the bill. I really wanted to get
better looks than I did three weeks ago so I was glad
I went.

It was great to run into the birders from Florida and
the Skagit native at the game range before I saw the
Whooper. We all ended up converging together at the
edge of the trail. The local fellow was very excited
about the swan and talked about the coverage in the
local paper. He thought the couple from Florida were
the same ones in the paper but they couldn't be
because they had just arrived. So we must be getting
many, many out of staters to visit.

A couple of hunters I ran into further down the trail
ended up thinking birders are more insane than duck
hunters. They didn't understand how important seeing
this bird is to some people until I explained it.
They knew swan ID quite well so I wouldn't be too
surprised if they didn't go see the famous swan too.

A fun day which I ended at the West 90 near Samish
Island. Several Rough-legged Hawks including the very
interesting dark morph one. Some Short-eard Owls were
out along with the usual horde of N. Harriers.

Kathy
Roosting in S King County



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