On a lark (!), I decided to head up to Skagit Co. on Tues. afternoon
(4/12) to see if I could find any of my favorite winter target birds
still there. The targets were: the Edison Merlin, Short-eared Owl and
Rough-legged Hawk. BINGO! Hit all 3 in the Samish Flats (no, not
with my car this time...).

But there were more thrills than just seeing my targets. When on Fir
Island, I saw a Red-tailed Hawk on a nest in an area that previously
had hosted a Great Horned owl pair... Then, when I drove into Edison,
there was the light lady Merlin on a conifer across the road from a
cafe at the east end of town (the cafe with the map in the parking
lot). She was hunting. It was around 4:30. I stayed awhile trying to
get some photos, which I did get, even though the light wasn't great
and she was pretty much silhouetted for most of my shots.

After enjoying a tasty BLT at the Old Edison Inn, I headed out of town
on the Bayview-Edison Rd, spotting and zipping on by, a perched falcon
on a wire. Turned around and went back to see what I had figured was
a kestrel, and, it turned out to be the Edison Merlin, with prey.
Even though I watched her go through the entire process of preparation
and consumption, I never could identify the little prey bird that was
the size of a junco, and maybe was one. As she downed her dessert
(the 2 legs and feet), in flew another Merlin! Concentrating on the
eating bird, I really didn't catch many of the details of the visiting
Merlin, except that it seemed a bit darker than she. The fly-by
Merlin glided in low and circled around the light Merlin once and then
continued on its way northwest. No vocalization or harassment - the
light Merlin barely skipped a beat in her eating process as she
briefly took a look at the passerby - it certainly didn't seem that
they were a courting pair. I must say that, if she hasn't gotten
something going with one of the males in the area by now, the "window
of opportunity" will be closing pretty soon. I have always heard that
this light Merlin wasn't seen there except in winter - anyone observed
anything that would indicate otherwise? She has been in town each
winter for, I believe, the past 3 or so years.

I continued on out to West 90, where immediately I spotted a Rough-
legged Hawk (immature) in a budding tree in a grove to the north of
the parking lot. I got a decent photo of it, considering the
distance, low light, and all my other excuses - I just love that dark
"eyeliner" look that is so pronounced in the lighter-headed RLHA and
here it was!

OK, I was pretty much expecting not to see any of the Short-eared Owls
that had been such a treat to watch the past 4 or so months. A "real"
photographer who had been out to check for the SEOW a week ago, had
seen only one, which he deftly photographed both on the ground and
perched on a stake with pink and blue plastic ribbon at the top.
Well, I guess I got lucky - I watched 4 or 5 Shortears, even seeing
one on that same beribboned stake and capturing several of my
signature blur shots of it and one other on a post to the north. The
SEOW were flying around and perching way, way off in the distance,
mostly to the south, west and north of the path I was on. Didn't hear
any vocalizations from them or the Northern Harriers. There were a
few female harriers and one male, which I almost took for an owl until
I saw it's flight style. I will admit that, at one point I got quite
excited thinking that the flapping white birds I was seeing out beyond
the dike, were more owls. I fairly quickly came to my senses and
realized I was watching gulls...

The final surprises of the day were that I only saw ONE Great Blue
Heron all afternoon/evening, only saw about 4 Red-tailed Hawks out and
about and, when I was leaving the Samish Flats, Padilla Bay had
virtually no water in it - must have been a pretty low tide. Here
again, I will admit that, for a second I thought the water had been
sucked out of the bay by a building tsunami wave that would soon
engulf the area. Well, enough catastrophizing, I told myself, with a
mental slap up side my head!

No surprise to not see any swans or Snow Geese, or very many birds at
all, actually (including no larks) - guess it's moving or mating time
now. Oh yeah, I did see about 6 Bald Eagles (all adult).

It had been a very pleasant, even exciting, trip. After getting over
the initial jolt of the waterless bay, I got back into my peaceful
mode, filled my gas tank at the casino Chevron ($3.75/gal), stopped at
The Farmhouse restaurant for an old-fashioned hot-fudge sundae for the
road and cruised back to Seattle, surprised that I so quickly and
easily had used up 8 hours of the day.

Well, since winter is still hanging on, maybe some of you will get to
see a few lingerers up in the Skamish. Even if you don't, there's
always something nice about going up there.

Peace and good birding.

Barb Deihl

North Matthews Beach - NE Seattle

barbdeihl at comcast.net