This morning around 11:30, Sherrill Miller, Tom Takano and I birded Eide Road in Stanwood and were able to watch 4 Short-eared Owls hunt very close to us for about 30 minutes. Finally, when it became so ho-hum (!) we looked around and found 2 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS, 2 NORTHERN HARRIERS, a RED-TAILED HAWK, BALD EAGLE and a NORTHERN SHRIKE. Later on Fir Island, we found another SHORT-EARED OWL.

The biggest thrill of the day for me, was seeing over the Fir Island area, the biggest murmuration of EUROPEAN STARLINGS I've ever seen, including those YouTube videos of murmurations in England and Ireland!

Birding in this part of the Pacific Northwest couldn't have been better!

Pam Myers
Marysville