Date: 11/9/26 8:35 pm From: Madrone Ruggiero via Tweeters <tweeters...> Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Fidalgo- Whidbey Island North Winter Raptor Survey
The sighting was on Fidalgo. It was on the south side of the highway in the Summit Park area just east of the intersection of Hwy 20 and Thompson Rd.
Rough-leggeds are not particularly common on Whidbey. Last year we only had two on the survey. One in November on Banta Rd and one in February on Frostad Rd. They are much more common on the Skagit/Samish Flats and Fir Island. The few sightings I had on Whidbey last year were one time sightings where the bird didn't hang around.
-Madrone
On Mon, Nov 9, 2026 at 2:48 PM, Ronda Stark<rondastark18...> wrote: Hello,
I love Rough Legged Hawks and they were very scarce last year at the usual places near east 90. Can you explain where you saw this RLH?
Thank you,Ronda
On Sun, Nov 8, 2026 at 10:28 PM Madrone Ruggiero via Tweeters <tweeters...> wrote:
Hi all,Got the November survey done right at the beginning of the month this year and we had 48 raptors of 6 species. I had noticed an uptick in red tails and kestrels on the island in late october and the red tails definitely stuck around for the survey. Bonus was an off route first of season rough-legged hawk on the way up to March point to start the survey. Many of the bald eagles were in pairs and several were on or near established nests. Our survey team had our first owl for the survey with a great horned roosted in a bigleaf maple tree near Dugualla Bay. On a non-raptor note there have been large numbers of Dunlin on Whidbey lately and Dugualla had a flock of over 500 (we were doing the survey so didn't count them so maybe much higher). On Oct 31 I counted over 2000 at Crockett Lake during my last shorebird survey of the year. Survey summaryNovember 3, 2026 5hrs and ~55 survey route milesSurveyors: M. Ruggiero, S. Ellis, M. Ellis.Weather: mostly cloudy, no precip, wind calm-3mph, 51-53 degrees F.Red-tailed Hawk- 23American Kestrel- 1Northern Harrier - 1Bald Eagle (adult)- 21Merlin -1 Great-horned Owl -1
