I’ve been stopping along the roads of the Skagit River delta in northwest Washington state for years to see winter birds but it’s only after I discovered the Skagit Wildlife Area sites a few years ago that I realized how many birds there are in this area. It’s such a rich birding destination I’m breaking this report into two parts, since I’m hosting the Dawn Chorus both this week and next. I’ll save most of the story about how the Wildlife Areas came to be for next week since I’m a little short on time, with this week’s edition being a photodiary of some winter sights at Hayton Reserve and Fir Island Farms, one of the Wildlife Areas.
Every day in winter the weather is different, so these pictures show the site in sun, rain, wind, clouds, and everything in between. I’m generally there in mid afternoon.
Hayton is a restored estuarine tidal wetland formed when barrier dikes were taken down a few years ago. The 10-foot dikes were built early in the last century to create agricultural fields on the exceedingly rich topsoil here, but the price paid was the loss of a large part of the wildlife that made use of the tidal wetland, from salmon to ragworms to birds. By 2016, 230 acres of farmland had been reclaimed, 130 of those estuarine marsh (the Reserve) and 100 acres farmed for snow goose foraging as well as renewing the slough channels (the Farms).
One hundred and thirty acres of saltchuck restored to wildlife!
In the following sequence of aerial photos you can see the change from diked farmland as early as we have photos(1937), to its current state (fields are light in color surrounding the brownish polygon of mud).
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A half mile gravel driveway off the main paved road through Fir Island is a parking lot. You must have a Discover Pass (purchase from WDFW for $30/yr) to park there. Right next to the parking lot is an eagle’s nest, where you’ll often see one or more eagles perched nearby even in winter.
Walk up onto the new dike that separates the reclaimed mudflat from an existing ongoing farm and drainage channel, and there’s a pathway leading out toward Skagit Bay. There are always birders there, many with major glass and tripods. We give each other the “secret handshake” birders smile.
Depending on the tide you’ll see either a big expanse of shallow water...
...or a lot of mud:
The dunlins come and go. When they’re present, they are spectacular in number and behavior.
Best appreciated in video:
The day was windy so I had a hard time keeping the camera steady, and even more so when zoomed in. But you may enjoy the footage anyway:
Shorebirds love all the mud.
And of course, the Dunlin. So busy and so skittish. I never get tired of watching them.
Green-winged teal forage in the shallowest water, skimming off the mud.
Ducks also forage on the fields nearby, planted specifically for them in an arrangement between WDFW, local farmers and other groups. The farming community bought into the restoration project for two reasons: 1) they are provided help with drainage of their fields and 2) the dedicated waterfowl forage-fields take some of the pressure off their own.
The farm component of this Wildlife Area is a serious working farm. Groundwater is shallow, and working the soil requires specialized equipment.
All those shorebirds and ducks and geese mean prey for raptors. The Skagit delta has a high density of eagles, hawks and owls.
Besides all the shorebirds and waterfowl there’s an abundance of small mammals in the fields, especially voles. Which means hunters of them.
Harriers are common, although always cool to see, flying low, dipping this way and that. More rare are the Short-eared owls who also feed on voles primarily. I got lucky a couple of weeks ago, saw this one between the dike and the parking lot. At the time I thought it was a harrier, since it was so similar in its flight. Yay cameras!
That’s it for today. Hopefully next week I’ll take you on a visit to another of the Wildlife Areas not far from this one.
Dawn Chorus is now open for your birdy observations of the week.