Hello Tweeters,

My wife, Carleen, and I along with our friends Kathy and Arn decided to take advantage of the good weather this morning and headed up to the flats. We started at Thomle Road just south of Stanwood where we saw four Snowy Owls and three Short-earred Owls. We also saw two Western Meadowlarks and two Northern Shrikes on the dike. An American Kestrel and a Peregrine Falcon were also spotted. Just as we were about to leave, four Black-bellied Plovers called as they flew overhead. Then we headed up to the headquarters at Wylie Slough and along the road we saw two more Peregrine Falcons.
We did not see much at the headquarters except for a flock of at least 100 Pine Siskins which we searched through but did not find any Redpolls. We then went to Hayton Farms where we saw a large flock of Dunlin mixed with about 20 Black-bellied Plovers. There were not too many geese there but several large skeins of geese were flying overhead. We had two Greater Yellowlegs and another Northern Shrike. Trumpeter Swans seemed to be in large numbers in many of the fields.
We then headed up towards Samish flats just west of Edison. The flats had numerous Northern Harriers, Rough-legged Hawks, Red-tailed Hawks and Bald Eagles. We also saw several large flocks of Dunlin in the area. When we were at the West 90, every binocular view had one if not several raptors soaring. We stopped for lunch at the Old Edison Inn and as we came out, we were surprised by a Barn Owl flying overhead. We drove slowly through Edison trying to find the Barn Owl again, but saw only a Merlin.
We went from there up to the county park on Samish Island. The water was completely flat and the lighting was perfect. We had tremendous views of at least a dozen Long-tail Ducks. It was so calm we could hear them calling. Other waterfowl include: Surf and White-winged Scoters, Red-breasted Mergansers, Horned and Red-necked Grebes, Common Goldeneyes, Pigeon Guillemots, Buffleheads and several Common Loons. As we were leaving at the top of the trail we got excellent looks at several Red Crossbills.
We ended the day at the dike at the end of Rawlins Road on Fir Island. As the sun was setting, we enjoyed watching five Short-earred Owls hunt along with several Northern Harriers. In the distance we could hear thousands of Snow Geese and several hundred trumpeting Trumpeter Swans.
Great weather, birding with good friends.......an outstanding day.

Neil Zimmerman
Brier, WA
n3zims at comcast.net