Tweets - yesterday, I ran up to Whatcom county for one last day of birding
in Washington State in 2011.

On the way up, I swung by Eide Rd. in Stanwood, and the GREAT EGRET was at
the ponds just past the end of the road as promised. I was there at 7:45
a.m. I saw no owls however, but I didn't stay long.

Up in Whatcom county, I found a couple of CALIFORNIA GULLS on Lake Whatcom,
but not much else there - only 4 species of duck.

I next head to the Lummi Flats, spending most of my time working my way out
to the west end of Kwina Rd., where I found a ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK, a NORTHERN
SHRIKE, a couple of WESTERN MEADOWLARKS, and a "YELLOW-SHAFTED" FLICKER.
The waters at the end of the road were full of birds, mostly wigeon and
pintail, but also hundreds of BRANT. I was able to find one EURASIAN
WIGEON. As I drove back out over the bumpy gravel road, a VIRGINIA RAIL
scooted across the road in front of me.

I went up to Cherry Point, and on the north side of the BP refinery, they
are "enhancing" a wetland. There was another NORTHERN SHRIKE there, and a
pair of BALD EAGLES building a nest.

Birch Bay was great, as I had SURF SCOTER, WHITE-WINGED SCOTER, BLACK
SCOTER, LONG-TAILED DUCK, and HARLEQUIN DUCK all in very close off shore for
great looks. There were also several EARED GREBES there.

I then pondered where to go next, and decided to try heading up the Mt.
Baker Highway to see if I could find an dippers on the Nooksack. What I did
find up there was a huge run of salmon. I guess that's what a salmon run is
supposed to look like. Every braid of the river was filled with dead
salmon, maybe one every 15 feet, all over everywhere. Live salmon were also
numerous, and there was a dull roar of noise from them shifting position in
the currents. BALD EAGLES - dozens and dozens of them - lined the river.
And I was able to find an AMERICAN DIPPER.

With my visit to Whatcom county, I reached a milestone that I hadn't even
considered until a couple of months ago, when I realized I was so close. In
2011, I've seen at least 50 species in each of the 39 counties in
Washington.

== Michael Hobbs
== Kirkland, WA
== http://www.marymoor.org/birding.htm
== http://www.marymoor.org/BirdBlog.htm
== birdmarymoor at frontier.com