Ken and I agreed to lead a trip for the WOS convention on Saturday to the Skagit and Samish flats, and today we headed north to check scout the area. We have both birded this area many times in the winter, but are relatively unfamiliar with migration birding here. Overall we had a great day.
Today was the first non-rainy day after several days of heavy rains, and on arrival at Wiley Slough at 8 AM the birds were extremely active. We came primarily to look for shorebirds, and did find a few species, but primarily the passerines were just extremely active. Nothing really uncommon, but lots of everything. We managed 2 SBDO, along with many LBDO, GRYE, at least 8 WISN and 5 PESA in flight. We stayed until about 11:30 AM and were astonished that we had 57 species on our list.
The rest of the day we checked out several access areas to Padilla Bay including Hayden Reserve, Jensen Access, Channel Drive, and Marsh Point, with highlights being my FOY Black Swift at Channel Drive, 17 White Pelicans at Marsh Point Padilla Bay Viewpoint, and nice looks at Merlin, PEFA, COHA and SSHA, a PESA near in at Hayden Reserve, and NO RAIN.
Tomorrow we will bird in Whatcom County and hope for the American Golden Plover and Bar-tailed Godwit seen today on Semiamoo Spit.