Barry, I agree. These are my observations and speculations:


What ever dead salmon were present on river banks near spawning grounds are now dispersed and gone because of flood waters. Of course, Bald Eagles congregate at these sites. Some people may see them feeding in their yard in the flood plain. We may get Tweeters reports of people seeing Bald eagles feeding on salmon under their bird feeders. Many of the eagles probably moved downstream to the estuaries and salt marshes temporarily for what ever food they can find. Others probably just scanned the area for furry fast food opportunities. We should see an up river migration of eagles twice this year. When the flooding subsides, and the spawning areas are covered with within normal water range flow, the remaining Chum salmon, including some that may still be in the salt, should spawn in the same historic areas and die. When I used to do a lot of fly fishing for Steelhead , we would see a big push of Chums in mid- to late December. The eagles will likely move right back into these areas for the long feast of aged, fragrant, blackened fish and the usual bickering. As much as I like Bald eagles, I always enjoy it when the other raptors can hunt in the lower river valleys for awhile in the late Fall and early Winter, with the eagles absent.


Dan Reiff




----- Original Message -----
From: "Barry Ulman " < ubarry at qwest .net>
To: "Bob Sundstrom " < ixoreus at scattercreek .com>
Cc: "tweeters" <tweeters at u. washington . edu >
Sent: Tuesday, December 14, 2010 10:02:09 PM
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Samish raptor concentration during yesterday's flooding

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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