Dear Tweeters,
My friend Mike saw a Gyrfalcon at Jensen Access on Fir Island (Skagit County) on Groundhog's Day, so I spent several hours searching the area the next day, to no avail.
Today (the fourth February) I went back to Fir Island, and found the Gyrfalcon immediately upon arriving at Hayton Reserve. The bird was perched near the Bald Eagle nest tree, but flew off toward Jensen Access as soon as I drove up.
I went over to Jensen to look for it, but did not see it.
This bird takes patience! Today was my sixth Fir Island visit this year. Same with the Samish Flats Prairie Falcon--it took me lots of searching to locate that falcon as well.
Also of interest today was a strange Mallard-like duck at the K-Mart Pond, or Walnut Street Pond, in Burlington. This little pond is just south of the south end of the K-Mart parking area. The duck in question was with six Mallards. It looked just like any normal female Mallard, except that its bill was a dull greenish-grey. I had thought it was blackish grey, but the photos I took show a bit of olive-drab color to the bill. There was nothing about this duck that suggested (to me at least) that it was a domestic duck or some other species. I will put the photos on my eBird checklist shortly. I was wondering if it might have been an eclipse male that failed to moult out of that plumage, or an "intersex" bird, or possibly some kind of hybrid.
Yours truly,
Gary Bletsch
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