I think we saw the same dark hawk that Gary reported on the 26th. We saw it on Saturday, the 24th, near the T-junction of Samish Island and Bayview-Edison Rds. on the Samish Flats in Skagit County. We put it down as a dark-phase Rough-leg. It was hanging out very closely with a light-phase Rough-leg - the two sat on the ground within five feet of one another. They took to the air and hovered almost wingtip-to-wingtip, which was very cool to watch! Made me wonder if pairs sometimes stick together during migration - I've never seen that before. The dark bird was very dark above, but it had bold white patches on the undersides of its flight feathers. The tail was mostly dark above; I didn't get a good look at the underside.
I need to have my camera handy when I drive through the flats!
Eric Kraig
Olympia, WA
erickraig at comcast.net