[Tweeters] Samish Flats - 28 Mar 2022

[jimbetz at jimbetz.com]

Hi,

   I was gone for 10 days - when I left the swans and snow geese were already
dwindling.  I did a quick driving survey from about 10 to 11 this morning.
It was a day of spotty, light rain.  By the time I was back home at noon
there are hot spots but you'd still have to call it "overcast with scattered
showers".  Here are the results:

   Bald Eagles - numbers down but still present.  Adults in/near  
nests, immatures
                 elsewhere.
   Hawks - several redtails, a Rough-Legged, and two Harriers.  No Kestrels.
           No peregrines.
   Ducks - "everywhere" but not the numbers we were seeing just over a  
week ago.
           One Bufflehead and the only other verified species were all  
Mallards.
   Great Blue Herons - zero (unlikely I missed them).  Tide was high so they
           were likely just somewhere else.  Since the rookery is 'just across
           the bay' seeing zero GBHs is notable but not rare.
   Flicker - one.
   Ravens and Crows - a few.
   Red-winged Blackbirds - where ever there were cattails.  Other blackbirds -
                           normal (several hundred in groups of 50 and up).
   Snow Geese - one large concentration near D'Arcy and Bayview-Edison Rd.
                At least 5k and possible over 10k.
   Trumpeter/Tundra Swans - one area near D'Arcy and Farm to Market.   
About 500.
   Seagulls - just about every where.

   There are no swans on the Butler Flats - one group of Snow Geese.  (Verified
with spotting scope from our house.)

   I was expecting to be blanked on the snows and swans - pleasantly  
surprised to
see any at all.  I did not have time to wait and see ... those groupings are,
perhaps, "transients" moving North and stopping over to refuel ... ?

                                   - that's all folks ... Jim in Burlington