Thanks to the great reports of birding last week in Skagit County from
Brian Bell and Wayne Weber, I was inspired to get over to Skagit County
from Friday Harbor for a day of birding today (2/7). I woke up this
morning to the sounds of a PACIFIC WREN singing in the pre-dawn light,
which I thought was a good omen for the day.

On the ferry ride over to Anacortes I saw lots of GLAUCOUS-WINGED and
MEW GULLS, as well several PIGEON GUILLEMOTS, COMMON MURRES, PELAGIC
CORMORANTS and two RHINOCEROS AUKLETS. A single COMMON LOON rounded out
the birding from the ferry.

I was eager to look for the ROCK WREN so my first stop was North Hill
Road in Burlington, where thanks to Wayne's great description I was able
to locate the wren. What a treat to see this species, especially here!
While looking for the wren I also saw a displaying male ANNA'S
HUMMINGBIRD, a flock of BUSHTITS, and three BALD EAGLES. Thanks to
another of Wayne's tips I played and got an immediate response from a
VIRGINIA RAIL at the cattail marsh on the corner just a block away from
the rock wren site. It was pretty neat to see so many great bird species
thriving in what was really a very industrial area.

I continued north along Old Highway 99 to Pomona Grange County Park
where I found one of the AMERICAN DIPPERS Brian had reported. The short
walk through the woods didn't yield any other species, but they have
some nice interpretive signs up highlighting the amazing variety of tree
species in that mixed forest.

I took Bow Hill Road through Edison and the most amazing sight on my way
to Samish Island was along Bayview/Edison Road where there were twenty
BALD EAGLES perched together in a small stand of trees. (I kept a count
throughout the day, and ended up with 70+ eagles seen.) There was also a
lot of activity nearby, with multiple RED-TAILED HAWKS and NORTHERN
HARRIERS, a pair of RING-NECKED PHEASANTS, and a flock of GOLDEN-CROWNED
SPARROWS.

At the Samish Unit of the Skagit Wildlife Area I ran into a couple of
other birders who had their scopes trained on an acrobatic pair of
SHORT-EARED OWLS. They graciously let me take a look, and while
following the owls I also came across a ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK, the only one
of the day.

Samish Island itself was pretty quiet, perhaps owing to the huge rain
squall that had just moved through, so I went back south. Bay View State
Park was similarly quiet, but at the southern trail head of Padilla Bay
Shore Trail was a small flock of GREEN-WINGED TEAL and NORTHERN PINTAIL,
as well as a singing WESTERN MEADOWLARK.

I failed to see any wild turkeys in Conway while stopping for a snack,
but did start seeing lots of TRUMPETER SWANS with some TUNDRA SWANS
mixed in. I found a pair of NORTHERN SHRIKES along Rawlins Road on Fir
Island, where there was also a large flock of SNOW GEESE. There were two
other flocks of snow geese nearby - one north of Fir Island Road, and
one south of Johnson Road just east of the island. The latter flock was
flushed by a bald eagle while I was filming them - see a video clip of
it on my blog at the link below.

The last target species for the day was the BLACK PHOEBE at the Skagit
Wildlife Area off Wylie Road. I heard it right away, but it took a bit
to locate it among the flooded trees.

Overall, it was a fantastic day's birding with more than 50 species
recorded. The last sighting of note for the day was a tagged red-tailed
hawk along I5 near exit 226. It had a blue wing tag that appeared to be
marked with a "1" or an "I". Does anyone know who might be interested in
this sighting, or where I can report it?

Some photo highlights of the day are posted on my blog at
www.orcawatcher.com

Monika Wieland
Friday Harbor, WA
mailto:monika.wieland at gmail.com