Jim, thanks for your detailed accounts, helpful to birders and helpful to our knowledge of what's going on with the birds.
Dennis Paulson
Seattle
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On Apr 26, 2024, at 11:48 AM, via Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu> wrote:
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Hello all,
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Having just returned from Belize I was anxious to see the changes that
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have happened in just 3 weeks since I had last gone out birding in Skagit
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County. The following represents what I saw/noticed. I drove out to the
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East 90, then to Fir Island, then back to the East 90 - in about 5 or 6
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hours and stopping to just sit and watch at many different locations.
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I left the house just before noon and didn't return until just before
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sunset (7-ish).
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Significantly less Bald Eagles, all of them I saw were probably
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associated with active nests. Most of the active nests had "one
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white head sticking up". I did not observe any young but I was
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looking up from below so wouldn't have seen them until they are
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getting ready to fledge. I saw around a dozen or so eagles - at
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all the usual places (Samish River/East 90, Hayton, Allen West, etc.).
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(I found Shep's report of 75 eagles at Nisqually to be Amazing - are
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there fish running there that aren't in the Samish or Lower Skagit?)
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Very few Red-tailed Hawks. Less than half a dozen, probably more like 3.
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Zero Short-eared Owls at the East 90. This was in spite of sitting and
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just watching for an hour about 1 and another hour from 5:30 to 6:30.
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About 6 Northern Harriers. Two of them I saw at the East 90.
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No other raptor species. Zip-zero.
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At most 1/4 of the ducks of any species as before we left. These were
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scattered around and mostly in ditches/sloughs. There was no standing
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water in the fields which surely contributed. Most of them were
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probably Mallards but I did not have my spotting scope with me to
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Id the ones at long distances.
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There are passerines - everywhere - but not in large numbers. We have
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seen the first Goldfinch in breeding colors at our feeder/fountain.
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Our seed feeder went empty while we were gone so the birds are still
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re-discovering our backyard.
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There were Dunlin and sandpipers and yellow legs and other shore birds
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and ducks at Hayton. In fact this was the largest aggregation of
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birds I saw. I also stopped for about 1/2 hour at Jensen and there
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were very few birds out on the water. The tide was coming in both
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there and at Hayton.
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A "normal" amount of gulls - meaning everywhere but scattered and no
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large flocks.
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So that's the story for the Samish Flats, Skagit Flats, and the 90's.
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- Keep your eyes to the sky and trees and bushes ... Jim
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