SKAGIT AND SAMISH FLATS PRESIDENT'S DAY WEEKEND
16-18 FEBRUARY 2008

Eleven keen Yakima Valley Auduboners traveled across the Cascades for our
third President's Day weekend in northwestern Washington. Good to perfect
weather prevailed. We spent three full days hitting a good number of the
prime birding sites on the Samish and Skagit Flats and nearby Penn Cove and
Deception Pass State Park on Whidbey Island. We tallied 112 species, 14
more than on the same trip in 2004. For the first time we added in an extra
day; this made a huge difference in our pace. We were able to slow down, do
several good hikes, savoring the habitat of each area and the birds.

Gyrfalcon, a rare winter visitor from the arctic to Washington, was voted
the "Most Wanted Bird." We spent a good amount of time on the Samish and
Skagit Flats scoping flooded fields loaded with puddle ducks. Over the
years, this habitat has had the most observations of Gyrfalcon according to
data collected over more than 20 years by the Falcon Research Group (Falcon
Research.org) during the mid-February Skagit raptor census conducted by Bud
Anderson.

Saturday 16 February.

Samish Flats. We began Saturday morning on the Samish Flats, famous as a
wintering ground for many raptors. A Cooper's Hawk perched atop an antennae
was our first intimate raptor study. As we cruised Field Road a bunch of
Black-bellied Plovers on a muddy field caught our attention. We parked by
the Lutheran Church and scoped the field just to the north. Here we had
great views of a Pacific Golden Plover. The majority of this species winter
range is on islands in the tropical Pacific; lawns on Hawaii are a great
location. A few occur in southern California coastal estuaries. This bird
(or perhaps there are a couple) wintered on the Samish Flats this winter,
well north of the species normal range.

The nearby "West 90" WDFW parking area featured many hawks, eagles, and
owls. We saw six species of raptors from this one vantage! There were
numerous Northern Harriers and Bald Eagles, and fewer numbers of both
Red-tailed and Rough-legged Hawks. A Peregrine Falcon immature of the
Pacific Northwest "Peale's race, very dark perched close by on a pole. One
Short-eared Owl flopped gracefully on the grassy fields here too.

Samish Island. For a change of pace, we headed to Samish Island County Park
overlooking Samish Bay. From the overlook we scoped studied loons, grebes,
and waterfowl, including Brant and Long-tailed Duck. At Camp Kirby at the
very west tip of Samish Island, the camp caretakers granted us permission to
bird the gravel shores and brushy patches on this nice property. Both Brant
and Bald Eagles were numerous here.

Dodge Valley Road. A potential bonus to our raptor list, Red-shouldered
Hawk, had been hanging out near LaConnor along Sullivan Slough. We arrived
at the end of Valley Road and did not see the bird, By and by an employee of
one of the farms ventured by interested in what we were looking at. This
fellow said we might gain permission to bird from the dike on the farm so he
took me to the owners. These turned out to be David Hedlin and Serena
Campbell featured this month by The Nature Conservancy of Washington for
their conservation efforts in preserving shorebird habitat (Google The
Nature Conservancy of Washington Farming for Wildlife). Atop the dike Stan
spotted the hawk perched half hidden to the west in Sullivan Slough. It was
a distant view but showed its field marks (banded tail and reddish
underparts). Fortunately the hawk flew to its usual pole in plain view from
Valley Road and we, along with a small throng of birders led by Bud
Anderson, were treated to fantastic close study of this rarity, a "southern"
species that breeds north to southwestern Oregon. It regularly occurs north
to the Ridgefield NWR area in southwestern Washington but is very rare
anyplace north of that area.

In the farmfields along Dodge Valley Road, we had fine side-by side studies
of both Tundra and Trumpeter Swans. Scoping David and Serena's flooded farm
fields from Landing Road a short ways south proved good for a selection of
ducks and marsh birds. We too applaud their efforts to conserve habitat for
wildlife.

Fir Island. Late Saturday afternoon we headed south onto the Skagit Flats on
Fir Island, we encountered hundreds of Snow Geese flying high overhead.
Usually we blunder into vast flocks of these beautiful birds grazing on farm
fields. On this trip we had to be content with flying birds.

Sunday 17 February.

Washington Park. A route popular for walkers in Washington Park west of
Anacortes is the two-mile 'Loop Road." It is closed to traffic before 10 am,
this makes for a tranquil and safe birding trail. The habitats along the way
are varied, including rocky shore, open salt water, brushy patches,
Douglas-fir forest, and rocky balds. We added Hairy Woodpecker,
Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Brown Creeper, Winter Wren, and Red Crossbill in
the dense forests. Near the end of the loop we paused atop a rocky outcrop
overlooking Burrows Strait. The flora (wind-sheared Douglas-fir, Rocky
Mountain Juniper, Arbutus, and grassy balds), fauna, and geology on this
scenic vantage are akin to the San Juan Islands, without the hassle of a
ferry trip. Birds we added to our trip list here included Common Murre,
Marbled Murrelet, Anna's Hummingbird, and Pine Siskin.

Whidbey Island. We enjoyed good birding in Penn Cove, a large bay that
obviously has lots to eat for wintering seabirds, especially Surf Scoter and
Western Grebes. Loons, other grebes, and waterfowl occur in lesser numbers.
Though a little difficult to observe through the trees, we made several
stops overlooking the numerous mussel platforms out in the bay. Many
hundreds of Surf Scoters appear to be making a good winter living around
these structures, kept on alert by several Harbor Seals; these seemed to be
harassing the ducks. Just what are all these scoters eating, anyway? On
these platforms we found a high tide roost for shorebirds. Our views were
distant and proved challenging. With persistence we found a few Black
Turnstones and a small flock of Dunlins. At Grasmers Cove we stopped once
more and found five Greater Yellowlegs at the west edge of Penn Cove. In
2004 we found much larger numbers of "rockpipers" here including Surfbird
and Rock Sandpiper. I guess these birds might have been elsewhere.

Dugalla Bay. North of Oak Bay we detoured to an overlook of Dugalla Bay to
add several waterfowl to our trip list: Cackling Goose, Gadwall, Canvasback,
Lesser Scaup, Common Merganser. With all the development going on Whidbey
Island I wondered why this area is still an expanse of nice habitat as it
doesn't appear to be officially protected.

Deception Pass State Park. Though thronging with holiday seekers we timed
our visit here with ebb tide through Deception Pass. Vast volumes of water
squeeze through the pass (over a geologic structure under the pass known
as a sill) creating a current upwards of 18 knots. This outpouring creates
an impressive tidal rip twice daily. We witnessed hundreds of Red-throated
Loons working this tidal rip, flying upstream, then plopping in the water,
then disappearing underwater to catch fish stirred by the roiling current,
then surfacing "downstream." Reaching slack water offshore, the birds
repeated their flight upstream. Brandt's Cormorants, Red-breasted
Mergansers, Pigeon Guillemots, Marbled Murrelets, and Common Murres were
also taking advantage of easy fishing here. A Black Oystercatcher on the
shore here was new on our trip list.

Across Deception Pass we walked out to Rosario Head, like Washington Park,
another bit of the San Juans. The rocky outcrops here, grown to wind-sheared
Douglas-fir, Rocky Mountain Juniper, Idaho Fescue clothed balds, with
wildflowers later in spring. From our perch out on Rosario Head, we enjoyed
a beautiful vista of nearby Deception Pass and west to the San Juans. John
picked out a Spotted Sandpiper working the rocky shores on the causeway out
to Rosario Head. Spotties are very uncommon winter residents in western
Washington. From our perch out on Rosario Head, we enjoyed a beautiful vista
of nearby Deception Pass and west to the San Juans. Here we saw the only
Harlequin Ducks of the trip. North from this vantage we spied on two
Peregrine Falcons perched on the cliff, suggesting their breeding territory.

Here we also noted all three Washington cormorants with Double-crested,
Brandt's, and Pelagic on offshore rocks.

Monday 18 February.

Butler Flats. Our quest for Gyrfalcon took us this area of farmland and
marshes east of I-5, and seldom on the birding trail, particularly for
time-poor folks.
No Gyr but we did spot another Eurasian Wigeon. Among hundreds of Brewer's
Blackbird at a farm, we
spied on a few Brown-headed Cowbirds. At the Skagit Land Trust marsh, we
made a try for Virginia Rail but could only roust Marsh Wrens. We gained a
good view of this marsh by climbing a berm above the road to the Avalon Golf
Course. From this elevated perch, we could see the true extent of this
wetland, much more expansive than one experiences from the road. It's
obvious this is a critically important chunk of habitat in this rapidly
developing region. Walking the road by the golf course we had super views of
Evening Grosbeaks in the tall cottonwoods rimming the greens and a BVD
(Better View Desired) of a Purple Finch. Varied Thrushes posed nicely from
the bramble-infested understory of the Red Alder woods.

Samish Flats. Still Gyrless, we headed back to Field Road. At the Lutheran
Church spot Ellen spotted a brownish falcon perched on dirt clods in a muddy
field. I got excited thinking we might actually have a Gyr. A closer look
through our scopes soon revealed an immature Peregrine Falcon. A short time
later, at the "90s" on Field Road, Bruce spotted a distant brownish falcon a
half mile to the north. We sped off to Sunset Road and had decent views of a
Prairie Falcon, a rare winter visitor to lowland western Washington. We
surveyed both the Samish "West" and "East" "90s" specifically for Gyrs with
no luck before heading off for a finale hike at the Skagit Game Range.

Wylie Slough. While having lunch in the parking area, a Merlin dashed by,
our fourth falcon species for the trip. After lunch, we walked the two-mile
Wylie Slough loop trail in the Skagit Game Range. We observed a respectable
44 species on this walk. Yellow-rumped Warblers chipped in the tall trees,
another addition to our trip list. The hike yielded three new sparrows for
our trip list: White-throated Sparrow (four birds on dike south from
northeast end of trail, near 1st bridge across slough), several flocks of
White-crowns, and one Savannah Sparrow. As we were departing a local birder
kindly showed us a Great Horned Owl (incubating?) in an old Red-tailed Hawk
nest just to the north of parking area.

Reflecting on our species list below, I note we found 28 species of
waterfowl, 13 raptors, nine sparrows, and six finches. These numbers prove
the richness of habitats and thus a large diversity of birds here in
northwestern Washington, always a memorable area to bird and explore.

Species list:

Red-throated Loon
Common Loon
Pied-billed Grebe
Horned Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Western Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Brandt's Cormorant
Pelagic Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Tundra Swan
Trumpeter Swan
Snow Goose
Brant
Canada Goose
Cackling Goose
Green-winged Teal
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Northern Shoveler
Gadwall
Eurasian Wigeon
American Wigeon
Canvasback
Ring-necked Duck
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Harlequin Duck
Long-tailed Duck
Surf Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Common Goldeneye
Barrow's Goldeneye
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Common Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
RED-SHOULDERED HAWK
Rough-legged Hawk
American Kestrel
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
PRAIRIE FALCON
Virginia Rail
American Coot
Black-bellied Plover
PACIFIC GOLDEN PLOVER
Killdeer
Black Oystercatcher
Greater Yellowlegs
SPOTTED SANDPIPER
Black Turnstone
Dunlin
Mew Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Western Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Common Murre
Pigeon Guillemot
Marbled Murrelet
Rock Dove
Mourning Dove
Great Horned Owl
Short-eared Owl
Anna's Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Steller's Jay
American Crow
Common Raven
Black-capped Chickadee
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Bewick's Wren
Winter Wren
Marsh Wren
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
American Robin
Varied Thrush
European Starling
Orange-crowned Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Spotted Towhee
Savannah Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark
Brewer's Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Purple Finch
House Finch
Red Crossbill
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch
Evening Grosbeak
House Sparrow


Andy Stepniewski
Wapato WA
Steppie at nwinfo.net