Hi Tweeters,

Bill and I decided to take advantage of the beautiful winter day
and head north to the Skagit Delta area. We went first to Wylie Slough,
where we were curious about the Black Phoebe, but didn't know where to look.
Just to enjoy the day, we walked out along the new dike and inspected all
the new bodies of water-lots of Pintails out there. We also had great looks
at a Merlin. We encountered a couple who said the phoebe had been seen this
morning flitting from perch to perch over the water just to the south of the
big new parking area. As we ate our lunch, I finally spotted the Black
Phoebe flycatching actively in that very spot. This was about 1 pm.
Leaving the Wylie Slough area we spotted some Meadowlarks along the road.

Our next objective was to see the Short-eared Owls up in the
Samish Flats area at "West 90." Several people have commented that the owls
appear about 4:30 pm, so we timed our arrival at West 90 to coincide with
the owls appearance. They did show up right on schedule. There were at
least 5, all quite distant, but still beautiful with their giant wing beats
as they soared around over the fields. They shared the sky with many
Northern Harriers. Across the road from the parking lot was a ploughed
field with quite a few Black-bellied Plovers among other birds. We also
spotted on Rough-legged Hawk not far from the owls and one Kestrel on
Chuckanut Drive Road.

Happy birding, Charlotte Byers, Seattle