I led an Audubon Photo Group field trip to the Samish flats on Sunday, and
photographed the Dunlin spectacle as something flushed them. None of the
people near me saw a raptor, but it was pretty obvious something made the
whole flock (estimated 2000-ish) fly as one. I've posted one photo of the
Dunlin event (
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sammamish-WA/Park-Gallery/207533451275 ), and
will post others as I have personal time (something not in abundance
lately)...

As Barb noted as well, Snow Geese were not abundant. We spotted ten in
flight at Rawlins Road (headed towards Hayton/Hughes Farm), and found 5
others dead (four in one pile alone) the whole day. I can't remember the
last time I saw as few as 5000 during late winter, much less mid-winter...
Oh, and a total of three Northern Harriers and a singular Eagle and
Rough-legged Hawk at West 90 has got to be a low number for me there, too,
all at a distance...

00 caren
http://www.parkgallery.com
George Davis Creek, North Fork

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Barbara Deihl" <barbdeihl at comcast.net>
Sent: 2010 February 10, Wednesday 11:55
To: <Tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Subject: [Tweeters] Super Sunday at the Samish - 2/7/10 (long)

> As we progressed onto the flats, we could see a lot of cars in the
> distance, where the Dunlin Field is. It was almost high tide (10:10
> a.m.) and the gang was there to watch the spectacle. We pulled up on the
> west side of the road, a block or so behind the other cars, to size up
> what was going on from a distance before immersing ourselves in the
> action. What a propitious move that was - we just happened to have
> pulled up under a wire on which an adult Peregrine was perched. None of
> the folks ahead of us seemed to be noticing this bird, so we drank in our
> golden opportunity for a close look, and sat in the car and watched it,
> in no rush to get to the inactive-at-the-moment Dunlin. Shooting through
> the windshield didn't give me the best chance at good photos, but no
> matter - we could watch it and revel in it's beauty and not scare it off
> by emerging from the car. This was quite a treat.
>
<(numerous snips later)>
> We never saw a single Snow Goose the whole day. I see from Hans
> Feddern's post from Tues. that they were in short supply for him, too,