[Tweeters] Swans and geese in Skagit County

[Nancy Crowell]

I live up here. The snow geese seem to be hanging out on the water during the daytime - visible from Hayton (Fir Island Farm Reserve) & Jensen access. Swans are plentiful. Many hanging around the outskirts of La Conner lately. If you get lucky you might spot the great egret either near the ditch on Calhoun, or La Conner Whitney.

Nancy
"Images for the imagination."
www.crowellphotography.com
________________________________
From: Tweeters <tweeters-bounces at mailman11.u.washington.edu> on behalf of Jamie Holland <jamietholland at gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, December 29, 2023 10:24:16 AM
To: Josh DeSilvey <jmdesilvey at gmail.com>
Cc: tweeters at u.washington.edu <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Swans and geese in Skagit County

Hi Josh,

I hope someone who has been up in the last day or two replies, as they seem to move around depending on the day. I didn't see a single (living) Snow Goose on our trip through that area just before Christmas, but the swans were much more widespread. I also wasn't scouring every small field, so perhaps more diligence would yield better results.

To route the trip, I used the maps and driving directions located in the Birder's Guide to Washington. The Skagit section is here: https://wabirdguide.org/skagit-flats/, and the Samish section is here: https://wabirdguide.org/samish-flats/.

If you have a whole day, I'd suggest starting in the Skagit flats as recommended in the Birder's Guide, at Exit 221 for Conway Road, and slowly working your way east and then north into the Samish flats. If you're looking purely for swans and geese, I'd skip the upland walk at Padilla Bay. That's likely to get you to the Samish East 90s corner by mid-afternoon, which seems to be a good time to spot dueling Short-Eared Owls and Northern Harriers.

We actually thought we might've seen Snow Geese far out on the water when we were on Fir Island at Jenson Access, but my mom had just taken a spill and I was too distracted to set up the scope. I told myself they were probably gulls, but there was something ungullike in their appearance, and someone said recently that Snow Geese will take to the water in certain circumstances to do with the cycle of the moon.

Jamie Holland



On Fri, Dec 29, 2023 at 6:23 AM Josh DeSilvey <jmdesilvey at gmail.com<mailto:jmdesilvey at gmail.com>> wrote:
Hello - if the weather is favorable on Saturday, I was planning a trip up to Skagit county to view the populations of swans and geese that winter there, (as read on Tweeters listserv). I took a look at eBird and it looks Fir Island could be a good place. But in thought I would ask here for some guidance as to where some of better fields are.

Thanks for your help and happy new year!

Josh DeSilvey
_______________________________________________
Tweeters mailing list
Tweeters at u.washington.edu<mailto:Tweeters at u.washington.edu>
http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/tweeters
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20231229/7f0e62e7/attachment.html>