Hi Tweeters,



Dave and Sherry Hayden and I birded the Skagit region today.??The morning?started out windy, and the afternoon ended with gusts so strong that at times I could actually lean into the wind without falling over.? Kind of cool actually.? Even the drainage ditches had white caps, and the electrical wires were whipping back and forth.??We watched as 1 Eurasian Collared-Dove attempted to land on one, but it finally gave up and flew away.? Happily, the rain held off until we were nearly finished for the day.? Despite the dampening effects of the strong winds on birding, we still saw a number of good species.?



The BLACK PHOEBE was quickly located at the Skagit Game Range off of Wylie Rd.? Despite the wind, it was actively flycatching and frequently vocalizing.



Samish West 90 was very active, with numerous BALD EAGLES and N. HARRIERS and 1 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK.? Initially, we did not see any SHORT-EARED OWLS.? Eventually, we managed to spot 2 or 3 that were mostly hunkered down in the grass, but would occasionally take to the air to avoid the desultory harassment from the N. Harriers.



We saw the enormous flock of SNOW GEESE as well as large numbers of swans in the fields.? Bald Eagles and Red-tailed Hawks were seemingly everywhere, although we did not spot a single falcon of any species.?



The waters off of March Point Rd. near Anacortes were pretty quiet with mostly the usually riff-raff, although we did get a nice look at a RED-THROATED LOON.



Our final stop was at the Port Susan Bay refuge, where we had been plannig to hike (after having obtained permission from the Nature Conservancy steward) but by then the rain had joined the wind and so we just looked for Barn Owls (without success) in the open buildings at the beginning of the dike trail passed the house.? At the house itself, there was a very?miserable looking BARN SWALLOW sitting under the eaves on 1 of last year's nests.? A small flock of DUNLIN and BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER were on the lawn just before the house.



While the weather undoubtedly kept many of the birds hunkered down, I really enjoy being outside in such wild weather.? It beats sitting in the office.



Lonnie Somer

Olympia

wheelermombi at comcast.net