It was hard to believe that yesterday turned out to be fairly sunny,
with no rain anywhere I was, so I again did a last-minute dash up to
Stanwood to see if there would be more than just a nice sunset sky. I
was not to be disappointed.

I stopped and stayed in the area at the end of Boe Rd, from 6:30 -
8:30 p.m. Before getting down to the serious (?) business of checking
on the Snowy Owls, I first took a gander at the geese lifting up off
the south end of the 'safe' field (during hunting season) and flowing
en masse out to Port Susan Bay, all the while announcing their
intention to raft up there and roost for the night. A few Bald Eagles
followed, but likely remained in the periphery until an opportunity
arose to go for a straggler.

I next focused my attention on the stunning views to the east and
north. Some lovely, sharply pointed, white rocky structures were
outlined on the horizon to the east and north, with a few pockets in
the outline couched in soft-looking, loosely packed clouds. Across
the sky tumbled (and perhaps rumbled) huge puffy white and gray-blue
shapes, harbingers of some future rain events to interrupt the
sunbreaks. But for the time being, all was calm, all was bright!
Negligible wind and somewhat of a bite to the air - not exactly
springlike, but comfortable enough to be out continuously for a couple
of hours and not have to race to the car for warmth.

So I started setting up my scope to see if any white blobs with moving
heads would meet my gaze. Before I could look to the north end of
P.S. Bay on the driftwood, I saw a large white bird flying over the
marsh from the north, and I watched my first Snowy of the afternoon,
fly by, seemingly answering the call of the geese down at the south
end of the bay - it disappeared around the trees but not before I
snapped a quick shot, a rear view, but a natural one. In fact I think
I heard it laughing as it came by, about 100 yds away, knowing it had
the upper hand in this photographic encounter. I guess my P&S Lumix
lens is not of fearsome size, either!

Next scanning for Snowies up to the north, in the next hour or so, I
spotted at least 3 perched owls (possibly 4). Yes, it was back to
lump photography, but, luckily a couple from Arlington, Ed & Barb,
confirmed most of my sightings. They are interested in purchasing a
scope - seeing the Snowies so clearly at such a distance in such low
light, convinced them of the value of a scope over binoculars for some
things. Too bad the eyeball view through the scope can't always be
duplicated by digital images recorded on my camera, especially at that
time of day. Blame it on the camera... :-)

8-10 Northern Harriers and a few Red-tailed Hawks were out hunting. A
nearby heron wading in the marsh, and struck a classic stance. And
then, the BEST sight of the day - a mothlike flyer flitting around,
first out over the marshland and then closer and closer, until it flew
right in front of Ed & Barb's parked truck - a Short-eared Owl, one of
a few that flew, perched and dove to the ground around us. I hadn't
seen any near the Stanwood Snowy Owl sites for a month or so. No
courtship displays were seen, but just before Barb & Ed & I left, a
Shortear or 2 let out a few "e-e-e-YIPs". Music to the ears !

Shovelers, Mallards, Am. Wigeons, coots and likely several other
brands of duck, foraged, courted and added their voices to the chorus
which, by 8:30 included a lot of Killdeer. It's still very
interesting to me that Killdeer are active much of the nighttime...

Also just before we called it an evening, Ed spotted a couple of
swimming mammals in a channel of water to the south of the Nature
Conservancy dike. From what I could see, they were medium-sized, with
9-10 in. long narrow, pointed tails, which they would slap on the
water as they dove down under. River otters? Muskrats? They kept
resurfacing and swimming quickly down the waterway. What a great
wildlife area! I guess that soon the Port Susan Preserve dike will be
breached and the wetlands will go the way of others (e.g. Skagit Game
Refuge at Wylie Slough, Nisqually Wildlife Refuge). Wonder if that
means there will no longer be anywhere for the public to walk out
there? Or are they going to build a boardwalk? Time to do a little
investigating... :-)

For photos from yesterday's outing, see my "More Snowies, More
Species..." Flickr set at : http://flic.kr/s/aHsjzaVivD

And a question: has anyone seen a Snowy at Big Ditch in the past month
or so? I haven't.


Barb Deihl

North Matthew Beach - NE Seattle

barbdeihl at comcast.net






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