[Tweeters] Skagit County Upriver Trip Report

[jimbetz at jimbetz.com]

Ron,

   Thanks for your response.

   We actually drove into and around Howard Miller yesterday.  I "checked out"
the eagle center and decided there wasn't anybody there (driving by between
11 and Noon approximately).  If the center was open I didn't figure that out.
   Perhaps adding a lighted "Open" sign in the window that can be seen from the
road below would help?

   BTW - the Bald Eagle population here in the lower Skagit valley -
particularly anywhere West of Sedro Wooley - seems, to me, to be up
from last year but down from the winter before.  I go out to the Samish
flats 2 or 3 times a week and have been seeing eagles 'every time' and
'everywhere' ... but not large quantities.  I have a picture I took of
that clump of trees behind the house near the East 90 that has 26 eagles
in or flying around that clump (2020).

   As I said in my post - we were hoping to find some kind of concentration
of eagles and hence we 'kept driving' ... even when we saw one bird.  We
never saw two at one time and it was usually several miles between eagle
sightings.
   I did have reports of groups of eagles earlier in the fall - from a
friend of mine who is a fisherman - he said they were there then and so
we were hoping to find them yesterday.
   It was still a good day - just not very birdy ... but birdier than
other similar survey trips in the same area in other recent years.  I
was prepared to find -zero- raptors which is a not uncommon experience
in that area.  Last winter I walked the river trail in Newhalem and got
pictures of humpies spawning ... but did not see a single eagle that
trip (go figure!).  We actually probably saw about 10 eagles in all the
time yesterday.
                                                 - Jim in Burlington
Quoting ronpost4 at gmail.com:


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> Jim,

>

> I am a current volunteer with the forest service bald eagle watch

> stewardship program on that part of the Skagit. This winter is a year (as

> happens in the odd years) that the winter chum run is down. Plus. for

> reasons not clear, it has declined overall for nearly a decade. So unlike

> past years when hundreds of migratory eagles (from Canada and Alaska)

> gathered there, it is down to dozens.

>

> I recommend that people stop by our table in Howard Miller Steelhead Park

> at Rockport any Saturday or Sunday until we finish the season late in

> January. We have eagles in our scopes most of the day and our forest

> service supervisors there know a great deal about all the fish and birds in

> the area.

>

> Ron Post

>

>  

>

>  

>

> Sent from Mail[1] for Windows

>

>  

>

> FROM: jimbetz at jimbetz.com

> SENT: Wednesday, January 3, 2024 8:33 PM

> TO: tweeters at u.washington.edu

> SUBJECT: [Tweeters] Skagit County Upriver Trip Report

>

>  

>

> Hi,

>

>  

>

>    We drove upriver today to see what the situation is with Bald Eagles

>

> and other birds.  We went from Burlington to as far as Marblemount

>

> (yes, some of you don't consider some/all of that trip "upriver") and

>

> the trip included going up the Sauk and Cascade drainages and both

>

> sides of the Skagit between Concrete and Marblemount.

>

>    We saw eagles - but not many and no large groups ... a single eagle

>

> here and there (almost always perched on a tree with a view of the

>

> water).  We saw fewer Red-tailed Hawks but still a few.  We were not

>

> looking for the smaller birds and did not note any of them - including

>

> Corvids and Passerines.

>

>    We did not see any deer or elk - but weren't expecting them.  No

> bear,

>

> coyote, or wolf.  No squirrels or chipmunks.

>

>    We didn't stop for long, rarely got out of the car, didn't hike.  So

>

> what we did see was strictly the highlights.

>

>  

>

>    We did share an Excellent cheeseburger at the Cascade Burgers in

>

> Concrete.

>

>                                                         

> - Jim

>

>  

>

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