Tweets,

Birder friend and I had a delightful, dizzying day (much driving in
circles!) revisiting areas not visited for quite a few years - picked
a great day, although it was cooler and windier than we had expected
much of the day. A fun exploration and refresher on some of the fall/
winter raptors that frequent the area. The following list reflects
our non-expert birder status.

Fir Island (9:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.)

Hayton Farm Preserve Parking Area & Fir Is. Road
1000's of Snow Geese - on ground in a swath & roused by bald eagles
into moving undulating masses
adult and im. Bald Eagles (4-5)
some Red-tailed Hawks (dark and light morph) - perched and soaring
a few Northern Harriers working fields and flats
2-3 Great Blue Herons
1 Sharp-shinned Hawk hunting near a dike bank
1 Belted Kingfisher
Song Sparrow in blackberry bushes
Killdeer (heard one)
a smattering of gulls, crows, starlings
Mt. Baker

North Fork Access
a few Northern Harriers hunting
Long-billed Marsh Wren (heard, but not seen)
Spotted Towhee (heard)
5-6 Bald Eagles
1 Red-tailed Hawk
2-3 GBH's
remains of Snow Goose
plump red rosehips in hedgerows
fields of cabbage
muted fall tones in landscape
Swirling cirrus clouds on light blue sky
3 hunters walking but no shooting near us - we walked the dike a
little bit

Circling Back to North and East, on Fir Island and near Conway & Mt.
Vernon (1:30 - 2:30p.m.)
4 W. Meadowlarks (in field behind Snow Goose Produce/Ice Cream Stand)
4 Bald Eagles
2 Red-tailed Hawks
1 Amer. Kestrel on wires and fencepost along Dike Rd., to east of
bridge to Fir Island

Much circling around around Mt. Vernon, Burlington and Edison -
frequent stops to check maps, laugh and eat bites of lunch...

Near East 90's Area and Edison (2:30 - 4:30 p.m.)
1 Amer. Kestrel on a wire, near some blueberry fields
2-3 Bald Eagles (adult), 2 of which perched in cottonwood tree in
someone's yard
2 Redtails harassing the 2 eagles and perching nearby
4-6 Northern Harriers, both male and female
1 Rough-legged Hawk (light adult male) - hunting in field to s. of
Edison and e. of Farm-to-Mkt. Rd. - near grove of cottonwoods,
planted in rows
1 Stellar's Jay near cottonwoods
a couple of big oak trees along F-T-M Rd - no woodpeckers or jays
seen there
2 Dbl.-Cr. Cormorants near Samish River

At Breazeale-Padilla Bay Interpretive Ctr. on Bayview Edison Rd.
a Red-tailed Hawk hovered in the front yard and then perched in a
tree there - didn't move as we drove down the driveway
1 robin
1 Spotted Towhee
1 Song Sparrow

Public Beach on Samish Island (5:00 - 5:30 p.m.)
1 im. Bald eagle in flight
1 Horned Grebe (seen by another visitor with whom we talked)

Final Stop at Samish West 90 at Dusk and Sunset
1 Redtail (dark morph) on telephone pole on e. side of Bayview-
Edison Rd. just n. of parking area at corner
1 Northern Shrike seen by female birder, before we arrived
6-8 N. Harriers working the fields
5-6 Short-eared Owls working the fields with the harriers - lots of
diving down by both species
1 Peregrine Falcon adult, perched on post in field to south of
parking lot - stayed on post a long time, despite harassment by
multiple harriers and an owl as well (I think) -
large flocks of blackbirds and starlings (we think), swerving and
undulating in a large mass
one female birder from Lynnwood) to whom we owe thanks for telling
us about the owls
some hunters heard and visible - far out and near the dike, which
we didn't go out to

Thanks also to the Seattle Audubon Nature Shop for the helpful maps
of the area. Had we not had them, we still might be circling around
up there!

We did some general photography, but no great close-ups of the
raptors (or any of the birds, for that matter). Wish we had captured
the image of the GBH in flight, silhouetted against the brilliant
pink/orange sunset out toward Padilla Bay - it was a beautiful,
peaceful sight to end a grand day of birding and photography.

Disclaimer - much inexactitude in this report, in terms of places,
times, and numbers and specifics on the birds. Hope you get
something out of this anyway.

This is my first post - comments, questions and suggestions most
welcome (off-list, please)

Barb Deihl
Seattle, WA
mailto:barbdeihl at comcast.net

feasting (figuratively) on fall foliage and feathereds at the Barboretum