Date: 11/4/24 2:57 pm From: via Tweeters <tweeters...> Subject: [Tweeters] Birding Report for Skagit
Hello to all in Tweetdom,
First - and again - Wylie Slough is open again and it appears it will stay open for the forseeable future. I did go there once late last week and I have mixed emotions. What they did to the roads, fences, dikes, etc. is simply great. What I do not understand is why they also took down about 75% of the large trees that were along the edges of the dikes - and most of the brush ... both of which were important habitat for the birds. The number of birds and the number of bird species was dissappointing - but I can't completely discount someone arguing "wrong day/wrong time of year/wrong state of the tide/etc.". It just seemed "lonely" - not in terms of people but in terms of how many birds there weren't. *big disappointed frown"
Second - the arrival of Snows and Swans and ducks continues. Just one example - just now I saw thousands of birds flying up high and moving "generally South" ... whether or not they would have decided to do a stop over here in Skagit or further South is anyone's guess. We are noticing larger and larger numbers of snows and swans here. However, with respect to the ducks I still have yet to see "hundreds of ducks in a single field" which isn't all that unexpected considering that we don't have the ponds/small lakes/flooding of the fields that the non-stop rains will create.
Third - I was at Nisqually NWR yesterday morning - only my second time there. It was "about the same as the first time which was in the same weekend of November. There was a fairly large group going out as I was coming back to the parking lot and they seemed to be some kind of guided birding outing - lots of people carrying spotting scopes and at least 20 birders. Billy Frank parking lots were FULL when I was leaving about noon. There were 2 Bald Eagles in the large trees near the Twin Barns but too high up and too many branches in front of them to get a picture.
So far I have not seen any SEOWs at the East 90. On two different occasions I've seen some birds that were behaving 'suspiciously like SEOWs' but on -both- of those occasions any actual/firm ID came back as Harriers.
From my perspective the numbers of shorebirds (wading and etc.) are down from a month ago - both in terms of quantities and numbers of species. But there is still some good opportunities at places like Channel Drive ... if you get some good light (or don't care because you don't have a camera with you).
Today has been a particularly good day to spot birds from here at our house - because there have been low clouds in the distance ('Sedro Wooley') but full sun here around Burlington Hill ... so the birds "pop out from the background" very well. But all - sigh - were at considerable distance so no pictures this time. We are also seeing Bald Eagles on the top of what we call "The Eagle Tree" that is right in front of us at the bottom of the hill. This was common back in 2021 and before but for the last couple of years they've only been on that tree occasionally.
- Go Birding. Encourage others to go birding! - Jim
