Dear Tweeters,

Today (7-27-2011) was a good day to bird coastal Skagit County. Here are a few highlights.

Common Loon, 1 at Padilla Bay.

Red-necked Grebe, one, still showing some red, at Padilla Bay.

American Bittern, one "freezing" in a ditch at the West Ninety.

Green-winged Teal, five at the Game Range.

Surf Scoter, 1200 on Padilla Bay. See below.

Sempipalmated Plover, at least 20 on the mudflats north of Bay View.

Killdeer, at least 32 at the Game Range.

Semipalmated Sandpiper, 1 on mudflats north of Bay View.

Black Swift, 3 over the inactive hatchery on North Green Road (which
is sometimes a good place to see this species).

Purple Martin, 5 (1 male, 4 brown ones) at nest boxes near mudflats north
of Bay View (first time I have seen them there in a few years). This species has also been present the last two times I have visited Ship Harbor (the ferry landing in Anacortes) over the last two weeks.

Regarding the scoters off Bay View, I was told a few years ago by a WDFW biologist that these birds raft up out on the bay when they are moulting in summer, and unable to fly. The biologist said that there are normally quite a few Black Scoters out there with the Surfs, and of course White-wings as well. Black Scoters are almost impossible to find in Skagit County, for some odd reason, although I think they aren't so hard to find in Whatcom, Snohomish, Island, or King. Today, I walked out onto the mud at low tide at Bay View State Park, but it was still hard to see these birds, what with the glare; there were a few birds that might have been Blacks, but I could never be sure. Out at March Point, after wasting time negotiating a construction detour, I found that the scoter flock had moved closer to Bay View, which was where I had first observed it! It seems to me that someone with a boat could easily check this flock for Black Scoters. The biologist
told me that the WDFW go out there in boats and net scoters sometimes; that's how they know about the makeup of the flocks.

Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch






Gary Bletsch?Near Lyman, Washington (Skagit County), USA?garybletsch at yahoo.com?Mentre che li occhi per la fronda verde
ficcava ?o s? come far suole
chi dietro a li uccellin sua vita perde, lo pi? che padre mi dicea: ?Figliuole,
vienne oramai, ch? ?l tempo che n?? imposto
pi? utilmente compartir si vuole?.??