The wonderful weather on Tuesday, prompted me to plan my annual pilgrimage
to the Skagit - and Samish Flats on Wednesday, February 3rd. The weather
forecast called for light rain reaching the North of Seattle by late
afternoon, early evening. Wrong again Steve, Jeff and Walt - it started
dripping by 1:00 pm!
I started in Stanwood with several smaller formations of SNOW GEESE heading
south. The sewage ponds had a lot of NORTHERN SHOVELERS, LESSER SCAUP and a
few RUDDY DUCKS, also DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS and a RED-TAILED HAWK flying
over. A pair of HAIRY WOODPECKERS were chasing each other in the alders
along the road. Next stop: Big Ditch. I was greeted by a PEREGRINE FALCON
perching on the leaning, tall, dead pine just before you turn across the
railroad tracks. I stopped on the other side of the tracks and got out for a
look at the falcon. Across the highway a large adult COOPER'S HAWK was
keeping an eye on the faster competition. While I was stopped, a pick-up
truck passed me, but stopped a ways down the dirt road and let two dogs out
of the back. They promptly got a number of MALLARDS to take off out of the
ditch. A word of caution: I would not recommend to go down the access road
in a regular car! The potholes are miserable and it is always very muddy to
walk at the end of the road. Best bird found was an adult NORTHERN SHRIKE on
top of a bush across the ditch from the parking lot. It seemed to keep down
the sparrows, since I only found one SONG SPARROW and a couple of SPOTTED
TOWHEES. Two BALD EAGLES flew over and three more were perched on driftwood
out in the marsh and two NORTHERN HARRIERS were also patrolling the area. On
the way out, several WESTERN MEADOWLARKS were in the last bushes on the
right.
>From there I headed for the game range and the new and improved Wiley
Slough. Great new habitat with clean restrooms and one pair of MALLARDS! The
GREAT HORNED OWL nest in the alders down by the boat ramp was not occupied
yet (?), however I managed to locate one owl in the left pine tree, on the
second branch on the left side, away from the trunk. It was enjoyed by
several birders. A flock of PINE SISKINS was feeding in the alders, joined
by several YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS, also BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES and
DARK-EYED JUNCOS were in the same area. Along the access road was a mixed
flock of GOLDEN-CROWNED - and WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS.
Onward to the Hayton Reserve were 7 to 8 BALD EAGLES were in the trees along
the entrance road. A large group of AMERICAN WIGEONS was in a field to the
left and a single, apparently crippled SNOW GOOSE was behind the fence along
the road. The tide was out and a lot of waterfowl, gulls, a few GREAT BLUE
HERONS and a large flock of shorebirds, likely DUNLIN were out on the flats.
The marsh held more eagles, harriers and RED-TAILED HAWKS. From there I
drove around to Rawlins Road and had a nice close-up look at a male NORTHERN
HARRIER.. I headed on to Bayview State park for lunch. I stopped on the way
to pick out a few TUNDRA SWANS among the mass of TRUMPETER SWANS n the
fields. Stopping at the bridge across the slough, just north of Route 20 on
Bayview-Edison Road, I located a "COMMON" (Eurasian) male GREEN-WINGED TEAL
with a horizontal "racing" stripe amongst the 50 or so regular teals. Around
the next bend was a pair of COMMON RAVENS in a field. At Bayview SP, I
observed a male BALD EAGLE hovering low over the water several times, almost
like an Osprey. It caused large numbers of ducks, mainly NORTHERN PINTAIL
and AMERICAN WIGEON, but also MALLARD, BUFFLEHEAD and COMMON GOLDENEYES, to
take to the air. I checked D'Arcy road for American Kestrels without
success. A gorgeous black-phase ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK was perched on a telephone
pole just before the Bayview-Edison - and Samish Island roads. At the West
90 were more ROUGH=LEGGED HAWK (light phase), BALD EAGLES and NORTHERN
HARRIER. A PEREGRINE FALCON was seen flying and a large flock of DUNLINS
flew over, coming from the bay. I did find a single LINCOLN'S SPARROW in the
brush to the left of the parking lot. I dipped on Short-Eared Owls at the
90 and also on Long-Tailed Duck on Samish Island, however I did find two
EURASIAN COLLARED DOVES on the Island. Stopping again at the West 90, I
still did not find any Short-Ears. I decided to try my luck at the end of
Rawlins Road at dusk. It had been raining lightly most afternoon, but just
as I approached the North Fork of the Skagit River, the Sun broke out from
under the clouds over Whidbey Island. It created the most beautiful rainbow
with a faint double bow, i have seen in a long time. When I got to the end
of Rawlins Road, a large combination of "V's" and lines of 4000 to 5000 SNOW
GEESE flew over high. They were heading out towards Whidbey Island into the
setting Sun and landed in Skagit Bay, likely to rest for the night. This is
one of the more moving wildlife spectacles in North America, just like
something viewed on the Nature Channel! Once the busy chatter of thousands
geese faded away, it was replaced by the haunting calls of swans, now also
moving out to the bay in small groups. What a sight with the background of
the rainbow towards the mountains and sunset over the Bay and Whidbey
Island!
Much to my surprise, within ten minutes a second mass of possibly more
than the first, group of SNOW GEESE passed over and joined the others. At
about 5:30 pm it was getting dark. To my amazement a third, even larger
flock of SNOW GEESE came over, when I thought I had already seen the whole
population! After seeing only a few straggles and maybe cripples most of the
day, with the exception of Stanwood in the morning, the numbers seen in the
evening were most impressive. It would appear that they had been feeding
east of I-5 and north of Burlington during the day and were going to spend
the night out on the Bay. What a fitting end to a great day birding, even
though it was a little wet! Needless to say, I also dipped on Short-Eared
Owl at Rawlins Road!

Good Birding!

Hans Feddern
Twin Lakes/Federal Way, WA.
thefedderns at gmail.com
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