[Tweeters] Sunday, March 24 Trip through Skagit Valley

[Cynthia Simonsen]

Sunday afternoon my husband and I decided to drive through the Samish flats
and parts of Fir Island to see what was left of the winter birds. We saw
lots of what we expected, not much, and some lovely surprises.

Samish Flats
-Bayview all the way to Bow: some ducks
-Hwy 11 (Chuckanut) north out of Bow: a flock of snow geese, around 2000
just south of Colony Creek
-Hwy 11 south out of Bow at Sunset Rd: another flock of snow geese,
probably between one and two thousand (east side of road)
-Heading west at Sunset Rd and meandering to Field Rd: just past Church Rd
we starting seeing eagles lots, so turned around to get a good count…
4 eagles soaring
7 eagles in the field
12 eagles in the trees
-south on Farm to Market just past Field: 100’s of widgens and some
shovelers, green winged teals, mallards (could explain the eagles:)

Headed down to Bayview then toward Hwy 20 and Fir Island.
- La Conner Rd: about half way to LaConner we see a very large flock of
snow geese on the east side of the road.
- Fir Island WDFW unit:
12 gadwalls in the ditch before the parking lot
1 short eared owl! New for us at this location!
- Maupin Rd (east of snow goose produce) a small flock of snow geese, a few
hundred

So, even though winter is over we still had some wonderful birding in
Skagit Valley! 4 flocks of snow geese, a gathering of eagles and short
eared owls in an unexpected location!

Happy birding,
Cindy
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