Well, it wasn't quite Palm Springs, but it was sunny, calm and
surprisingly full of wintering birds - and, until Sunday, not too
overrun with men (and boys) with guns. My three afternoon and evening
visits yielded plenty of avian surprises and delights, some of which I
managed to record digitally with my point & shoot and scope and much
more of which I happily registered with eyes and ears. It was good to
be back, re-aquainting myself with a few old friends and saying
"hello" to a few new ones (not always sure which are which!)

Here's a list of the birds that graced my visits, mostly in the Samish
Flats, including in and around the town of Edison:

Red-tailed Hawk (up to 24 on Sunday-everywhere)

Bald Eagle (about a half dozen, including the owners of the palatial
nest in the tree on Bayview-Edison Rd)

Northern Harrier (mostly female and mostly near or at West 90 - one
male seen at W 90)

Short-eared Owl (numbers increased from 2-10 by 11/4, but usually saw
3-5. Others got some great photos, but I watched them course over the
fields, up & down and all around, from mid-afternoon through dusk -
heard a few characteristic "e-e-e-YIP" calls as a few chased each
other around Sunday evening)

Merlin (light female who hangs out around Edison in winter - one
photographer watched 2 Merlins interact in town)

Rough-legged Hawk (in a tree near the dike at West 90 and one on a
wire on B-E Rd)

American Kestrel (manicallly flitting from wire to wire along Farm-to-
Market Rad, near intersection with Josh Wilson Rd.)

Northern Shrike (at West 90)

Western Meadowlark (at West 90)

Brewer's Blackbird (near W 90 parking lot)

Common Raven (a few seen and heard in the area)

Dunlin (in a pond in a field along Bayview- Edison Rd.)

Northern Flicker (on a snag near Padilla Bay Interpretive Ctr)

Mallard (in the hands of some hunters)

American Wigeon (whistling overhead at West 90)

Green-winged Teal (in Samish Slough next to the F-t-M Bakery in Edison)

Trumpeter Swan (groupings of 4-8 flying overhead and in stubble fields)

Snow Goose (mostly on Fir Island in the Skagit Flats)

Song Sparrow (in all the wetlands)

Pheasant (at West 90)

Chukar (I THINK I saw and heard some at West 90)

Great Blue Heron (a smattering everywhere)

Marsh Wren (West 90)

European Starling (all over the area)

American Robin (all around, but only a few)

Dark-eyed Junco (in yards in Edison)

----------------------------------------------------
the following birds were seen by others, but I missed:

Peregrine Falcon (successfully hunting in Dunland)

Black-bellied Plover (in flooded field)

Barn Owl (near barn north of W90 parking lot)

and more...

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For some good photos of the Edison Merlin and a couple of Short-eared
Owls (taken by Dory Hamlyn), and for so-so to not-so shots of others
on my list and a lot of nice sky/mountain/land photos, you can check
out the following sets I've posted on Flickr:

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjwRiLDo (Tues. Nov. 1)

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjwRnKvq (Fri. Nov. 4)

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjwRouKj (Sun. Nov. 6)

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

For some great birding and photography, head on up to the Samish Flats
- it rarely disappoints!


Barb Deihl

North Matthews Beach - NE Seattle

barbdeihl at comcast.net







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