Dear Tweeters,
Several interesting sights appeared in the last couple of days in Skagit County.
On the 25th, there were American Robins foraging on woolly bear caterpillars on the Martin Road near Rockport. I don't recall ever seeing any creature eating those particular caterpillars before. I think that woolly bears probably don't start appearing in their larval stage until the migratory departure of Black- and Yellow-billed Cuckoos, in places where those caterpillar-eating cuckoos are found. Many of the caterpillars were road-killed, but there were also many living ones shuffling across the warm pavement at the time; I think that the robins were eating both smashed caterpillars, as well as those they'd killed themselves.
At the Samish East Ninety today (the 26th), I saw what I believe was the same odd Buteo that I'd seen there on the 15th. I hope that, when the hordes of photographers start showing up there, that this hawk is still present, and that good photos can be obtained. This bird is rather plain, monochrome brown on the dorsal surfaces. It has striking white flashes in the outer wings, apparent only on the dorsal surface, and reminiscent of those of an immature Golden Eagle. The underwing linings are dark, but the undersides of the secondaries and primaries are whitish.  The tail looks brownish above, with some pale or whitish streaks--not bars going across the feathers, but pale longitudinal streaking. This bird does a lot of wind-hovering. It has been hunting in the same area on both occasions, the fields south of "Bent Needle Lane," the private lane that starts at the "Northeast Ninety."
At the Samish West Ninety today, there was a leucistic Bald Eagle, probably the same one that we were calling "Frosty" last year. It was perched beside another adult Bald Eagle, way out by the outer dike.
Also today at the Samish Island Public Beach, AKA DNR park, I saw five COMMON GOLDENEYES. There were two adult drakes, each sporting "silver dollars" on their cheeks, plus two hens and one immature drake. I had never seen a Common Goldeneye in October before; my earliest previous sightings had been on the second of November, in 1996 and in 2002. Big flocks of Buffleheads have arrived.
At March Point were two drake Oldsquaws, along with over a hundred Buffleheads.
Large flocks of swans, almost certainly Trumpeters, have begun arriving on the Butler Flats. I think I was watching the moment that several hundred made their first landfall after migrating here. There were even a few swans on Minkler Lake, east of Sedro-Woolley, this evening.
Yours truly,
Gary Bletsch
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