Skagit/Samish Expedition 1-17-13

[Bill Anderson]

January 17th was a rare sunny, winter's day in my corner of the PNW. My friend Terry, my son Daren, and I traveled north to the flats of the Skagit and Samish rivers in search of owls and other birds.

First stop was the flats of the North Fork of the Skagit River on Fir Island. We drove to the end of the road, parked, and walked up on the levee. There we were greeted by a short-eared owl perched on a blackberry bramble.


The owl patroled the tidal flats on the Sound side of the levee in search of prey. Short-eared owls are the only owls which hunt during the day, which makes them highly sought-after photo subjects.

 

[Bill Anderson]

The owl flew back and forth along the flats looking for prey.......







then took a break in the sunshine on a piece of driftwood.


As I was photographing the owl, fog rolled in from the Sound to create a surreal look.

 

[Bill Anderson]

As (bad) luck would have it, a female northern harrier arrived at the same time as the fog and flew very close to us.

The fog made photography difficult, although the resulting shots were somewhat artistic.








The harrier landed on the shoulder of the road about 25 yards away. She remained there for several minutes, but good photos were impossible due to the thick fog.

As we say in Mandarin, zao gao!

 

[Bill Anderson]

We then drove north to a DFW area on the Samish Flats west of Edison known to birders as the "West 90". The sun was out, but the short-eared owls were not.

Terry set up his camera, then left Daren to watch over it while he went back to his car for his mud boots. As Terry was returning to his camera, a male northern harrier did a low fly-by of the parking lot. That is Terry in the background crying over his missed photo-op. Like fishermen, bird photographers have "the one that got away."






A spotting feature of the northern harrier is its white rump.


The male flew off into the distance with a female.

 

[Bill Anderson]

On our way home we swung by Tholme Rd. south of Stanwood, where snowy owls have been seen on the distant levee across the open field. Due to the thick fog we could not see the levee, but we did see a short-eared owl land in the field beside the road.

We believe it was a female due to its darker color and wider wings. Poor light makes for "artistic" shots.




We thought she had caught something in the field, but you can see that her talons are empty as she flies away. Better luck next time.

 

[Christine]

Bill.. great set for sure!!! looks like you landed in the right place for such fantastic BIF pics!