I wonder if all the rain we've had swelled the rivers to the extent of
washing all the spawning salmon downstream so that the eagles had to
come downstream to find food.

Barry Ulman


On Dec 14, 2010, at 11:39 AM, Bob Sundstrom wrote:

> Tweets,
> ?
> I led a group of birders yesterday to the Samish Flats and other
> points north of Seattle.? The scene around the Samish west and east
> 90?s in late morning to early afternoon was unlike anything I?ve seen
> in 3 decades of birding in that area.? With much of the weedy field
> areas underwater, especially at the east 90, Bald Eagles were standing
> in concentrated picket lines in some fields and and scattered over
> other field areas.? Between the west and east 90, there were easily
> 100+ eagles, and the ?eagle tree? just south of the Samish River
> crossing had up to 24 eagles perched in it at any one time.? The
> number of Northern Harriers in the same area was somewhat higher than
> I?ve ever seen there too, several dozen.? We saw the same Harlan?s
> Hawk reported by Marv Breece.? Short-eared Owls were notably absent
> from view.
> ?????????????? It would be interesting to know where this many eagles
> converged from so quickly.? Last Monday when I visited the Samish
> Flats, there were far fewer in this particular area, and mid-December
> seems a bit early in the season for the up-river eagle concentrations
> to have moved down to the flats.? No doubt Bud Anderson would know the
> typical dates for this, but I recall it being a bit later in the
> winter on average.? Perhaps flooding upstream induced more bald eagles
> to move downstream to the Flats, or these birds converged from other
> areas nearby.?
> By the way, the northwest portion of the Port Susan Bay flats,
> including the wildlife area along West Pass and the fields just south
> of Stanwood toward Boe Rd.
> appeared to all be underwater, including most of the roadways.
> ?
> Good birding, Bob
> ?
> Bob Sundstrom
> Tenino, WA
> ixoreus at scattercreek.com
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