Subject: [Tweeters] Fir Island 12-19-09
Date: Dec 19 18:55:32 2009
From: Bill Anderson - billandersonbic at yahoo.com


My son Daren and I met?some motorcycle buddies for breakfast this morning. I am still without a motorcycle after my accident in California last May,?so while they went for a ride after breakfast, Daren and I went up to Fir Island to photograph birds.? I have paid several visits to Fir Island on my motorcycle and?it?was odd to be cruising the island in a pickup. I felt more connected with the outdoors and nature when sitting on?my Ducati ST4s than enclosed in the Ford F-150.

We saw tundra swans, trumpeter swans, mourning doves, and red tailed hawks, but the highlight of the trip was Skagit City Road, which I call "eagle alley".?? One tree had as many as seven eagles?perched on its branches at once (both adults and juvies) while several more eagles were walking in a field across the?road.?? They?were joined in the field by two ravens while a male northern harrier swooped in low.? I did not even pick up on the northern harrier until I?reviewed my photos ?at home.?? It was the first time I have photographed ravens and a male northern harrier.

Another first for me was hearing the eagles call to each other as they flew back and forth between the field and trees on both the near and far banks of the river.???For those of you going up there tomorrow, don't be fooled by the snow goose decoys visible in the fields.???

We?returned home?via Norman Road between Stanwood and Silvana.? I stopped at a spot by the Stillaguamish? River across from an eagle's nest on the opposite bank.?? I got some good shots of an eagle crying out after it had landed on a tree.???I also got sone good shots of trumpter swans landing in a field.?? I also some?hawks, but there was no place for me to pull over and take photos.?
Bill Anderson; Edmonds, WA. ?