Hello, tweets.

Netta and I drove around the lowlands north of Seattle, including
Whidbey Island, today trying to find someplace in the sun, or even
out of the rain, mostly with futility. The high point of the day was
north of the West 90, west of Edison, Skagit County, in the morning.
We checked the wigeon flocks for Eurasians, just as a matter of
habit, and in one flock to the west of the road, there were 3 male
Eurasians with about 25 Americans, a satisfying ratio. The next flock
up the road blew my mind. I stopped the car and put the bins on them,
and, because they were fairly close to the road, all put their heads
up. I quick-counted 36 male Eurasians in a flock that had only about
twice as many birds, perhaps 80 at the maximum. In my quick scan I
saw at least a couple of females, but alas, they were a little too
close to the road, and our stopping agitated them sufficiently that
they shot into the air and away across the field, many landing behind
ridges and a minority remaining in sight. I had wanted to check
closely for female Eurasians and count the Americans and, above all,
get photos, but it was not to be. The density of Eurasians was so
high that I probably could have got 20 in a photo.

We scanned the fields farther out (meanwhile birds from the first
flock had also flushed and spread out) and we could see one group of
about 30 birds that had 9 male Eurasians and two definite females,
both paired with male Eurasians. Some birds had their heads down, so
there could have been more females. There is no doubt that there are
far fewer females than males. There also seems to be no doubt that
this is the Eurasian Wigeon capital of the Pacific Northwest, perhaps
North America (I don't know the numbers that are seen in Alaska,
probably more than in Washington on the average). I have counted up
to 50 male Eurasians in a flock of many hundreds of Americans in
about the same area in other springs, but I could never have imagined
stopping for a smallish wigeon flock and have most of the heads that
pop up be red! Not getting a photo was a bit of a personal tragedy,
and my new motto is "shoot first, ask questions later."

But beyond my personal travails, I think this is of the greatest
interest. No one reports numbers of Eurasian Wigeons like this at
other places in Washington, and I don't think anyone has reported
numbers like this at this place earlier in the winter. Do these birds
come from all around and "stage" on the Samish Flats each spring?
That seems more likely than that we are missing big flocks of
Eurasians somewhere during the winter. You'll recall this is where a
male Falcated Duck was seen on two different springs with these large
groups of Eurasians. It must be on the route to Siberia!

-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net



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