Today I led a Seattle Audubon field trip to Spencer Island. This birding location is not what it used to be. The dikes have been breached for some time and today the interior of the island was flooded at high tide.

Even so, it remains a good place to go birding. At the Everett STP we had a nice assortment of ducks, including a few CINNAMON TEAL. Highlights on the island itself included NORTHERN SHRIKE and PILEATED WOODPECKER. A MERLIN put on a show as it made several unsuccessful passes at an in-flight DUNLIN before snatching its prey from mid air and making a hasty exit. Our final tally for the morning was between 45 and 50 birds.

We finished early, so at about noon, 4 of us decided to head up to the Samish Flats and look for falcons. Almost immediately after exiting I5 at Cook Road we had a female Taiga MERLIN on the hunt. From there we headed for Edison school, where a Gyrfalcon had been seen on Saturday. No Gyr did we see. But we enjoyed watching a COOPER'S HAWK and a very pale MERLIN compete for a perching location west of the school. Along Sullivan Road we saw a quite "frosty" adult PEREGRINE FALCON. And finally, after quite a search, we were rewarded near the intersection of Thomas and Field Roads. A GYRFALCON was being chased by 2 COMMON RAVENS. The three birds passed overhead at very close range. We couldn't buy a Prairie Falcon, so in waning light we headed for Dodge Valley Road, where a very obliging AMERICAN KESTREL awaited.

It was a good day.



Marv Breece
Seattle, WA
mbreece at earthlink.net