Sunday and Monday I birded Skagit and Whatcom counties. I was twitching the sightings of others, doing a bit of target birding, and some exploring as well.

Sunday, June 25

Started in the afternoon on the Samish Flats. Failed to find the possible Krider's Red-tailed Hawk reported by Joan Bird. At the West 90 was an in-flight AMERICAN BITTERN. VIRGINIA RAILS called from the first pond.

Next stop was the interscetion of Doran and Bowman Roads in Whatcom County, a short distance north of Wickersham, near the Skagit/Whatcom county line on Hwy 9. Matt Bartels had visited this location on 7/17/10 and found a swallow colony: possibly BANK SWALLOWS. This got my interest, since I had a 6/01/03 record of Bank Swallow from Deming Homestead Eagle Park, which is just a few miles north of the Doran site. Sunday evening (7/25/10) I observed a BANK SWALLOW over the Doran site that Matt thought was most likely a BANK SWALLOW colony. Nice work, Matt. Also, A CASSIN'S VIREO was singing nearby and 2 or more COMMON NIGHTHAWKS overhead.

I camped at the parking area on Sauk Mtn, near Rockport, under a fabulous full moon and got an early start Monday.

Monday, June 26

Early in the morning, I saw an adult male MERLIN in Burlington.

I wanted another shot at Joan's red-tail so after some birding along the way, I arrived once again at the Samish Flats. At about 9:00AM, I saw the bird near the East 90, where Joan had seen it. This is the first 90 degree bend east of the Samish "T" along Bayview Edison Road. If interested, you can find photos of the hawk (along with recent finch photos from Hardy Burn) at http://www.pbase.com/marvbreece/new_images_of_washington_birds .
This is a very interesting bird, and I hope that others will observe and photograph it.

A pair of AMERICAN KESTRELS was hanging out at the West 90. The male had a mouse and remained perched atop a sign, while the female perched a few feet away, for the 20 minutes I was at the parking area. Seems there must be a kestrel nest at that location. At the Samish "T", a PEREGRINE FALCON hunted at light speed. A 3 falcon day in July.

Also at the West 90 were 3 of someone's lost and banded CHUKARS, apparently looking for some rocks to climb.

Next I visited Channel Drive. Turn onto Downy Road off Whitney-La Conner Road, and follow to the end. Birds here included:

Greater Yellowlegs - 5
Lesser Yellowlegs - 1
Killdeer - 4
Least Sandpiper - 2
Western Sandpiper - 15
Semipalmated Sandpiper - 1
Wilson's Phalarope - 1
Spotted Sandpiper - 1
Long-billed Dowitcher - 1


Marv Breece
Seattle, WA
mbreece at earthlink.net