Hi tweets,



Last Friday, October 17th, Wendy and I were taking the preferred route to
Whidbey Island (north on I-5 to the Stanwood/Arlington Exit, west through
Sylvana, and left on Norman Road, ) when about halfway to Marine Drive we
encountered very large flocks of blackbirds. For a change they were feeding
on the ground in a cut cornfield, instead of perched on wires. We stopped
and studied them through our bins and a car flushed them, except for one who
continued to forage near the road. Since it was unlike the others in the
flock we consulted our Sibley, and deduced it to be an adult female Rusty
Blackbird, a lifer for Wendy and a new state bird for me-I had seen them in
B.C. We traveled on and found thousands of Snow Geese on Fir Island,
quite a few Redtails, and several Bald Eagles. On Whidbey at Dugualla Bay
were literally thousands of American Wigeons, and a small flock of
Canvasbacks in the lagoon. At Penn Cove there were impressive numbers of
scoters, but we didn't see any Black Scoters. Finally, on a small lake on
south Whidbey, Goss Lake, there was a flock of more than 100 Common
Mergansers.



Vote for wildlife, Alan Roedell, Seattle 206-522-0809

Mailto;roedell at speakeasy.net