Yet another good Whatcom County report, as I'm used to hearing this time of year.
I only wish you could have found your way to Semiahmoo and Blaine. There lies the motherlode of winter birding!

Holiday cheers,
Joe Meche
Bellingham



-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Hobbs <BirdMarymoor at frontier.com>
To: Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Tue, Dec 20, 2011 8:36 am
Subject: [Tweeters] Whatcom, and Eide Rd., yesterday


Tweets - yesterday, I ran up to Whatcom county for one last day of birding
n Washington State in 2011.
On the way up, I swung by Eide Rd. in Stanwood, and the GREAT EGRET was at
he ponds just past the end of the road as promised. I was there at 7:45
.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,
ut 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
o the west end of Kwina Rd., where I found a ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK, a NORTHERN
HRIKE, a couple of WESTERN MEADOWLARKS, and a "YELLOW-SHAFTED" FLICKER.
he waters at the end of the road were full of birds, mostly wigeon and
intail, but also hundreds of BRANT. I was able to find one EURASIAN
IGEON. As I drove back out over the bumpy gravel road, a VIRGINIA RAIL
cooted across the road in front of me.
I went up to Cherry Point, and on the north side of the BP refinery, they
re "enhancing" a wetland. There was another NORTHERN SHRIKE there, and a
air of BALD EAGLES building a nest.
Birch Bay was great, as I had SURF SCOTER, WHITE-WINGED SCOTER, BLACK
COTER, LONG-TAILED DUCK, and HARLEQUIN DUCK all in very close off shore for
reat looks. There were also several EARED GREBES there.
I then pondered where to go next, and decided to try heading up the Mt.
aker Highway to see if I could find an dippers on the Nooksack. What I did
ind up there was a huge run of salmon. I guess that's what a salmon run is
upposed to look like. Every braid of the river was filled with dead
almon, maybe one every 15 feet, all over everywhere. Live salmon were also
umerous, and there was a dull roar of noise from them shifting position in
he currents. BALD EAGLES - dozens and dozens of them - lined the river.
nd I was able to find an AMERICAN DIPPER.
With my visit to Whatcom county, I reached a milestone that I hadn't even
onsidered until a couple of months ago, when I realized I was so close. In
011, I've seen at least 50 species in each of the 39 counties in
ashington.
== Michael Hobbs
= Kirkland, WA
= http://www.marymoor.org/birding.htm
= http://www.marymoor.org/BirdBlog.htm
= birdmarymoor at frontier.com
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