Thanks Gary!

Do you have any advice about how to get there at a good time, with respect
to tides? I've been there several times in the last month. The first two
times I tried to arrive at low tide but I found the area east of the
parking area to be completely flooded. I started thinking that the low tide
at Channel Drive may be delayed, compared to the coast so, this past
Sunday, I tried getting there a couple of hours after low tide and I still
found it flooded. Somehow I just don't seem to have the knack for getting
there at the right time. Do you have any suggestions?

Mark

Ar Máirt 13 Lún 2024 ag 05:41, scríobh Gary Bletsch via Tweeters <
tweeters at u.washington.edu>:


> Dear Tweeters,

>

> A birding friend of mine recently asked me to post something to Tweeters,

> in regard to Channel Drive. Here goes.

>

> Channel Drive can host impressive flocks of shorebirds at time, but

> birding there is "hit or miss." A good strategy is to drive slowly, birding

> as one heads north, after the western terminus of Downey Road. Park at the

> end of the county road, and spend time carefully checking the Swinomish

> Channel itself, the various tidal wetlands, and the agricultural and waste

> ground along the road. There are times when it is very slow birding, and

> other times when all sorts of good birds show up. It is just a matter of

> putting in one's time, visiting again and again. The tide there is

> unpredictable, since it is at least partly under the control of man-made

> sluicegates.

>

> There used to be much more habitat along Channel Drive, but the last few

> pieces of undeveloped land along the channel have been displaced by yet

> more McMansions. Therefore, the car-birding part of a visit here has become

> less and less interesting. I doubt whether anyone else will find a

> Burrowing Owl along Channel Drive, as someone did back in 2003.

>

> Private property abounds here. Birders are at the mercy of landowners who

> control access to nearly all of the land along the sloughs, where the

> shorebirds can be seen. A birder whom I know slightly lives on Channel

> Drive, and he once told me that one of the major landowners made it clear

> that she did not want anyone, not even her neighbor the birder, entering

> her vast acreages for any reason. That said, Channel Drive is one of those

> places where the locals routinely walk their dogs and ride their bikes

> right past the "no-trespassing signs." I have had pleasant and hospitable

> conversations with some of those locals, as well as a few icy glares. It

> would be a shame to lose what little access is available to us at Channel

> Drive, so it would behoove birders to act accordingly.

>

> Yours truly,

>

> Gary Bletsch

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