Subject: [Tweeters] Afternoon time in the Samish - 3 visits in the past
Date: Nov 17 18:31:22 2010
From: Barbara Deihl - barbdeihl at comcast.net


Watching both weather reports and tide tables, I planned to make good
birding use of last Wed., Nov. 10, predicted to be a final day of
warm, sunny blue stuff in Western WA. So, upon hearing of the return
of a now-famous light Merlin, some Peregrines and Dunlins, plus a
possible Gyrfalcon and some Roughlegged Hawks, I decided it was in the
direction of the Samish Flats that I would go. It was a wonderful
afternoon and early evening, not just for seeing birds, but for the
interesting and ever-so positive people interactions. West 90 was the
focus of several other birders, too - many of us seemed to converge
there between 1:30 and 4:00 p.m., a time that turned out to be quite
productive, with a nice hovering light morph Rough-legged Hawk,
seeming dozens of Northern Harriers, several Redtails (both light and
dark morphs), a couple of Cooper's Hawks (juvenile and adult?), a
report of a possible Goshawk sighting by a party of 4 birders that
included Guido Berguido, Keith (?) Wiggins and wife, Jan and a Libby
with a felt Robin on her hat (!). Those 4 were very good birders and
were very willing to share their sightings and a little conversation
with me, even though I am obviously a different-level birder than
they. I was so grateful for their pointing out a few Short-eared Owls
flying out in front of the dike. Good to see the numbers of both
Shortears and Harriers up from what I had seen last year, though I
didn't start looking last year until mid-winter (late Dec.).

No need to repeat the story of the Gyrfalcon sighting, but I will add
that I, too, thought I saw a large brownish falcon chasing a N.
Harrier, after I followed the pointing arms of both Hans Feddern and
Gregg Thompson. My sighting was extremely brief and no bible will
have my hand on it while I give confirmation that there indeed was one
there. Some saw an adult female Peregrine flying in the area (near
the Dunlin across the road), but I only saw her perched on a utility
pole down on Bayview-Edison Rd., only once making a rather slow-and-
easy fly down toward a N. Harrier who was working the Dunlins in those
fields - never saw either raptor get a Dunlin. Gregg said he noticed
a decided lack of actual hunting, from the time he arrived up there a
little before high tide, in the morning - we discussed possible
reasons for this - any thoughts from the tweeterage? Marv Breece
suggested that the fact that Dunlin are also in the fields across from
West 90 may have something to do with less action at the Bayview-
Edison fields right now.

Other West 90 and surrounding flats birds I saw, included 4 Western
Meadowlarks, a couple of GBH, one flying Wilson's Snipe, 8 flying
swans, one American Kestrel and the afore-mentioned Edison Merlin,
hunting from the usual perches within a block or 2 of the Farm-to-
Market Bakery. Earlier in the day, Gregg had photographed a crow
harassing and driving off the Merlin - he didn't see any vice-versa
attacks by the Merlin, as is usually the case with most of the darker
Merlins I have observed. Someone I know with a strong background in
both crow and Merlin research and experience, suggested that perhaps
this one hasn't had much experience with corvids in her breeding
territory, so she is just learning about them here in the winter,
where the crow and jay interaction is a regular part of daily life.
Any thoughts on this? Oh, by the way, the 2 bakery employees I talked
with about the Merlin, said she had just shown up about a week or so
ago and they hadn't seen her around in the summer. They also
recounted an experience they had had seeing this Merlin sitting on a
wire outside the bakery with both wings spread - they thought she
might have been drying her wings, but I'm thinking that maybe she was
sunning, for either that or another reason! Forgot to ask them what
the weather had been when they had seen this...

A splendid fall day it was, a week ago. Remember? I saw no Bald
Eagles that day.

OK, so that was Day 1 - Day 2 was Friday, the 12th. I went to the
same areas in the Samish, but saw a lot less, likely as a result of my
spending a lot more time photographing the Edison Merlin, and no time
interacting with anyone, as I encountered no other birders, just a
couple of hunters coming out of the fields. Only one gunshot heard
that day and none on Wed. - nice! the "barking" of some Shorteared
Owls, mixed with the whistles of a couple of harriers and one call
from a Great Horned Owl, were the welcome bird calls I did hear out
there. I had had a mighty fine day, though less birdacious than Day
One, especially when it was capped off with the following: at dusk
(around 4:15 or so), at West 90, I was treated to 6 Short-eared Owls
doing the Moth Dance, weaving gracefully in and out of the grass with
a couple of Northern Harriers - I saw no confrontations (nor any prey
strikes) - it was mesmerizing and I watched the hunting birds (sans
hunters) until darkness took over. What a calming effect that was -
made it easier for me to go 25-35 mph on my way back up Bayview-Edison
Rd. toward SR 20, and to stay in the right lane much of the time on my
way back to Seattle!

Day 3 was yesterday - I went up because I just couldn't get enough of
either the Merlin or those Shortears! Plus, there were supposed to be
some sunbreaks in the afternoon. First, I drove through Fir Island,
and saw my first Snow Geese of the season - about 100 in flight and
formation, flying over the Old Pioneer Highway, near Conway. Since
Hans Feddern had mentioned seeing Short-eared Owls at the Rawlins Rd.
dike, I went out there, and scanned and scanned, but only saw 2 N.
Harriers - that was at about 3:00. I was almost blown off the dike by
the stiff, cold wind, but, the sun was out! I scurried on up to
Edison and caught 5 min. of the Merlin doing what I think was her
final look for prey from at least those 3 conifers. She flew off
toward the SE at 3:45 and didn't return while I was there for another
10 min. It was as if the starlings knew she wouldn't be back - a
group of them moved in to fill her void, perching throughout the tops
of those firs and staying there. I had noticed the Merlin dive into a
cluster of starlings last Wed., at about 3:30 p.m., and then not show
up again for another 10 min. while I was there. Maybe this is a daily
occurrence - leaving just before dusk to go to another hunting site,
before going to roost?

Just before dusk, I again went out to West 90, hoping for a re-run of
the Short-eared Owl experience of the past Friday. I scanned and
scanned and scanned and scanned, right up to dark, but saw neither
SEOWs nor NOHAs - the wind was strong (until it suddenly diminished,
right after dark) - maybe that had something to do with not seeing the
owls or harriers hunting? Marv Breece, whom I ran into out there, had
seen a couple owls earlier in the afternoon. And, the last hunter out
of the field said he hadn't seen any ducks in flight during the time I
was out looking for the owls - he said it was very strange. I was
personally glad he hadn't seen anything to shoot at :-)

Thus ended my day and the last time I will be up in the Samish until
the weather somewhat softens!

I did do some photography from the 3 days - mostly of the Edison
Merlin, but a few of a female adult Peregrine, a couple of Redtailed
Hawks, 2 Common Ravens and a juvenile Bald Eagle (VERY distant shots
of these) some Gresser (!) Yellowlegs in the Edison Slough mud last
Friday and a couple of mass shots of Dunlin in the field along the B-E
Rd. I can send some your way, upon request - no photo website have I.

Cheers.


Barb Deihl

North Matthews Beach - NE Seattle

barbdeihl at comcast.net