Here are some highlights from my trip to the Samish Flats on Thur.
Jan. 27 - main targets were Shorteared Owls at W-90 and the Harlan's
Hawk. Late start from Seattle, in the afternoon...
>
> Harlan's - along Green Rd. (one or 2 roads east of Cook Rd., off
> Chuckanut Dr.), on the east side of the road, perched in a
> cottonwood (?) out in the Skagit Land Conservancy wetland. Saw
> small groups of swans flying over the wetland, trumpeting as they
> went. No Snow Geese seen. I do have a photo of the Harlan's but it
> was pretty far away and the light wasn't very good - I can send it
> to you in an email, on request - no website ...yet!

> It was an interesting afternoon of many varieties of Red-tailed
> Hawks, oodles of Northern Harriers, one Rough-legged Hawk (along
> Bayview-Edison Rd. south), one Peregrine Falcon (on a pole near E-
> 90), no Dunlin, one N. Shrike (on a wire at the E-90 curve), the
> Edison Merlin (seen by Ron, perched on a wire a bit outside of
> Edison , maybe on Farm-to-Mkt. Rd.?), lots of Baldies of all ages,
> and the telling of a Black Phoebe sighting by Terry at the Game
> Range (Wylie SLough) in an alder grove. Terry also said he had
> heard a Virginia Rail at West 90.

> Heard a BAOW screech near the barn at West 90 at around 5:30it's
> sound was mixing in with the Shortears' barks at dusk. A fellow
> named Terry Little, who was doing a W. WA birding trip (from
> Spokane) to add to his 2011 state list, was the one who identified
> the BAOW call. Another birder, Ron Benshalom from Seattle, was
> there, too, with his 13-yr-old daughter. The 5 of us had a very
> good evening of owls, including a 3-Shortear high-flight display
> with the sunset in the background. Barbara (Blair) and I scared up
> one Shortear from the roadside down where you start driving south on
> Bayview Edison (this was at about 6 p.m.) Then we went to dinner.

----------------------2 recommendations for fine-dining in La Conner:
A favorite, "Seeds" was closed Thur. for remodeling (open again today,
Saturday, I think) so we were directed to a place called Nell Thorn's
up on Second St. - great food - not too pricey and rather gourmet-ish
fare - the Nell's Burger was splendid and the Creme Brulee was to die
for! Nice way to end a good day of birding.

------------------------- here is a report that Hans Feddern shared
with me before I went up on Thur. This was from Wed. 1/26:

> Had a great day birding mainly Skagit county. Did go up to Larrabee
> SP first, but was not too optimistic. There were thousands of birds
> way out in the bay, but hardly any close in. Set up the scope and
> had already seen a juvenile Glaucous-Winged, Pelagic Cormorant, two
> female Surf scoters and a nice Pacific Wren on the rocks below, when
> two ducks popped up. Put the scope on one of them at 40X and
> immediately had a beautiful male Oldsquaw/Long-tailed Duck with long
> tail in the scope! Things were looking up! Had a Kestrel south of
> Chuckanut Drive on the way back to Bow. [The Edison] Merlin very
> politely flew over the road in front of my car as I was driving into
> Edison. It came out of the direction of its favorite trees, carrying
> prey. Saved me a stop and kept me out of the bakery!
> Now Short-eareds at the West 90. Lots of eagles - I lost count
> somewhere around 40; half of them juveniles. Lots of harriers, Red-
> tails and one Rough-legged Hawk. Best bird there was a Barn Swallow!
> Had a Peregrine at the usual spot on a telephone pole on Bayview-
> Edison Road, but no Dunlins(tide had gone out). No Phoebe at the
> Game Range, but a bunch of "Pacific Groundlets" - the ones with the
> golden crown and bushtits, chickadees and juncos. Surprisingly
> enough, at least two more Barn Swallows and at least a dozen Tree
> Swallows overhead. The Great Horned Owl tree has been taken down
> On the way back to Rawlins Road, I had a nice adult Northern Shrike
> on Maupin Road, sitting on a wire leading to a residence ( new yard
> bird?). Rawlins Road was quiet, except for harriers and eagles.
> Heard and barely saw the Snow Geese way out in the bay. Swans were
> all going out to the bay. Eventually a couple of Snow Geese
> formations flew overhead, heading out to feed I believe. Heard a lot
> of gun shots all day and saw some hunters. Seems the geese stay out
> on the bay during the day and come in to feed at night.
> Finally at 5;15 pm I had a single Short-Eared Owl flying off to the
> left when you get up to the dike. Never did hear the Great-horneds.
> Ended up with a not too shabby 68 birds for the day, with nine new
> for the year.

----------------------and a follow-up with some details:

> Saw [the Edison Merlin] between 12:30 and 1:00 o'clock. Had lunch at
> West 90 and hung around 'til 2-ish. Hit the game range shortly
> before 4:00 pm. The Shrike is on Maupin Road, when you go straight
> at the sharp bend of Fir Island Road ( there is a farm there). The
> first house past the dike access - Jensen I believe - is a white
> rancher. It has a heavy wire leading to the house. The Shrike was
> sitting on the wire at about 4:30 pm. The road has a sharp bend at
> the dike to the north after the 2nd house. The only Short-ear was at
> Rawlins Rd. at 5:15 pm.

Hans

------------------

Cheerio,

Barb Deihl

North Matthews Beach - Seattle

barbdeihl at comcast.net