On Tuesday, February 24th, I had the privilege of birding the Samish -
and Skagit Flats with Max Wilson from Kensington, MD. on his first
visit to the Great Northwest. We hoped for Gyr - and Prairie Falcons,
but hey seemed to be busy hunting waterfowl elsewhere. Nevertheless,
we did have a three falcon day with a single likely PEREGRINE FALCON
flying along Bayview - Edison Road in the morning. Max also spotted
three large falcons chasing each other over the levee west of the West
90 at about 5:00 pm. Shortly thereafter we got a scope on a definite
PEREGRINE sitting on a wire a few telephone poles north of West 90.
Due to the cloud cover, the light was waning fast. We had hoped for
some SHORT-EARED OWLS at this location, but other than the falcons and
a couple more BALD EAGLES, we only had a lone NORTHERN HARRIER
patrolling the fields. We also had a single AMERICAN KESTREL along
Chuckanut Drive north of Bow in the morning.
Falcon number three was a MERLIN, sitting on a traffic sign as soon as
we turned off Fir Island Road towards the game range. The traffic sign
warns of the stop sign up ahead, a yellow square with a red stop sign
on the bottom and a big black arrow pointing at the falcon! This bird
put on a show for us. It dropped to the ground twice and circled low
over the fields three times, allowing great views. The GREAT HORNED
OWL at the nest at the game range boat ramp was up to its ear tufts in
the reproductive business. I believe she (?) winked at us with one eye
though. We did have an adult COOPERS HAWK at the game range
headquarters parking lot, but no sign ot the Northern Waterthrush.
We did enjoy a couple of sun breaks in the afternoon and had an
overall dry day, with just some light sprinkles a couple of times.
During one of these sun breaks, at about 3:00 pm, we went to the end
of Rawlins Road. Even before we reached the end of the road, we had
two SHORT-EARED OWLS over the field and road. Once we parked and
climbed up on the levee, we were treated to an exciting performance by
several Short-Eared Owls. They were flying all over the marsh and
field, landing on the ground and sitting on driftwood logs. It was not
possible to tell which individual we had already seen and could not
come up with an accurate count, however estimated anywhere form 6 to
10. While on the levee, we had a NORTHERN SHRIKE put in a brief
appearance in the last bush before the end of Rawlins Road. I also
stopped under a tree along this road and made eye contact with a
beautiful adult BALD EAGLE through my sun roof. This is not
recommended while driving!
Several observers have commented on the abundance of Bald Eagles in
this area and I must agree. I have always seen at least several eagles
there of the past few years, but never as many as this time. At least
half, if not more, were immatures.
Max got to see the SNOW GOOSE flock in the air, a ways of Fir Island
Road east towards I-5. I believe that he was somewhat impressed! Does
anyone have an official estimate as to the size of the flock?
A couple of additional notes: we had lunch at Washington Park in
Anacortes and found a PIGEON GUILLEMOT, PELAGIC - and DOUBLE-CRESTED
CORMORANTS, SURF SCOTER and HORNED - and RED-NECKED GREBES. We also
found three BLACK OYSTERCATCHERS loafing on a concrete block at the
marina south of the ferry terminal. A saltwater PIED-BILLED GREBE was
at the Anacortes marinas seafarers memorial.
One more noteworthy find were 8 plus EURASIAN COLLARED DOVES in a pine
tree across the slough east of the East 90 on the way into Edison.
There also was a small flock of GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROWS on the ground
at that location.

We had a great day birding!

Hans Feddern
Twin Lakes - Federal Way, WA.