Coming in in droves, they are - such a nice staging area for Snow Geese, swans, ducks, and, most excitingly, Snowy and Short-eared Owls. Several small groups of us shared sightings and thrills on Thomle Rd. yesterday, between 2:30 and 5:30 p.m. Hard to get an exact count of the owls as they kept moving and we were viewing from the road, as none of us yet had a permit, to cross the fields or get up on the dike. But this week (Mon. - Fri. only), some of us will be heading to 8421 Boe Rd between 6:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. to purchase, for $10, the right to access Stuart Lervick's property to get a closer look at the owls and other birds that can be seen from up on the dike. The sign at the Lervick address indicates that one should drive back to the "shop" behind the house, to procure a permit.

So, yesterday, from afar, Sarah, Kathleen, Ginger, Pat, Dory, Ray, a few others, and I watched and spotted the following 'highlight' birds in the Thomle Rd. area: at least 5 Snowy Owls, at least 6 Short-eared Owls, 2 female and 1 male Northern Harrier, a Northern Shrike, several Western Meadowlarks, a Red-tailed Hawk, a Peregrine Falcon, Black-bellied Plovers, a Northern Flicker, Marsh Wrens and Song Sparrows, thousands of Snow Geese, dozens of Trumpeter (or 'other') Swans, Eurasian-collared Doves (3 dozen), Great Blue Herons. Frogs were vocalizing, the shortears were yeeeee-IP ing and shrieking and dancing, as well as sitting on posts swiveling heads around in search of prey. The Snowies moved around a bit, from ground to posts and vice versa, up into bare-branched trees and bushes on the dike, up onto the roof of the little utility cabin at the south end of the N-S segment of the dike across from the road, and, as a surprise near the end of our visit, out from around the south side of the solitary metal shed near which we were viewing, and on across to the field. We lost track of it in the fog and semi-darkness. I remembered how I had seen a Snowy come off the shed roof and fly over the field, plus one had temporarily stopped on top of a phone pole in front of that same shed and surprised me when I looked up from my scope.

On my way into the area at 2 p.m. I also saw 2 Bald Eagles coming off a nest on Norman Rd., an American Kestrel along Norman, too, and a Merlin over near the end of Boe Rd. Dory & Ray had earlier seen Northern Harriers, a few SEOW, a Cooper's Hawk and a Rough-legged Hawk over on Eide Rd. earlier in the afternoon. Sarah & Kathleen saw a light-colored Merlin in the morning at Spencer's Spit, near Everett, not that I have any particular interest in this little falcon... :-)

As for hunters, there were just a few at Thomle, but Dory & Ray reported lots at Eide Rd., so they didn't go out in that field.

The fog was the frigid frosting on the cake of the day as it swept in at groundlevel, forming waves that tumbled over each other as they progressed down the field along the dike, from north to south. We were spellbound, and, when I tried to take photos of it through my scope, I realized my objective lens was fogbound, adding a nice blur to some of my photos, which can be seen at http://flic.kr/s/aHsjCYrawf I may add a few of some of the other folks' shots to the set later.

Thanks to everyone and everything that helped make this outing a great one. And now I've finally seen a Snowy Owl this season !!!


Barb Deihl

North Matthews Beach - NE Seattle

barbdeihl at comcast.net


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