The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge. We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns.
We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below.
|
April 27, 2021
Skagit Flats, PacificNorthwest
Latest trip across the Flats yielded no Snow geese or Trumpeter swans, but plenty of tulips blooming. I took these pics from the car as we drove through, hence the blurry foreground. You can stop at the tulip farms to enjoy the fields with more leisure. Mount Vernon, the nearest town, has an annual tulip festival for the month of April. The color is usually pretty much faded by now but we had a late spring this year due to cold temps in February and March. Lots of color still in evidence when we were there about a week ago.
Note: I just heard from someone who was over there on Thursday (4/29) — they said the tulips in these pictures had been topped. So we were over there in the nick of time. Bulb farmers knock blooms off the plants to benefit bulb formation.
20 million tulip and daffodil bulbs are harvested every summer from the 1000 acres of flowers on the delta flats. Tulips are half of that, and account for 75% of all US production. Even so, by acreage, flowers are a small part of agriculture on the flats.
90,000 acres are under cultivation in Skagit (pronounced ska-jit) county by agriculture in total, growing 90 different crops. Now that the delta topsoil is no longer muddy from winter rains you can see farmers plowing, planting and cultivating all over the county. Primary crops are potatoes, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, pickling cucumbers, cole crops and veg seed.
Skagit Valley is the biggest supplier of table beet seed (95%) and spinach seed (75%) in the United States. It is also supplying nearly 8% of the spinach seed in all the markets worldwide. Approximately 25% of the world’s cabbage seed and 50% of the world’s beet seed are produced by Skagit Valley farmers. Additionally, 95% of the red potatoes grown in Washington State are from Skagit County. www.skagitvalleydirectory.com/...
There’s a fair bit of dairy farming too. Skagit County Agriculture Statistics from Washington State University has more detail about the region and crops.
🦅
In terms of wildlife, this is transition season. Northward migrations have emptied the flats of waterfowl and raptors, with just a few winter migrants lingering. We saw Green-winged teal in several locations, pretty much the last ducks to take wing.
Out at Hayton reserve, it was very quiet. Few waterfowl, no shorebirds. Summer migrants are appearing, but winter raptors are scarce. There are still plenty of resident Bald eagles though, such as the eagle pair in their cottonwood tree by the parking lot. We saw one harrier, but no short eared owls, both winter birds.
There’s a huge Great Blue Heron rookery on March Point, partly visible from the road. About 700 nests host 3000 herons in the peak of nesting season. In spite of the highway and nearby oil refineries the rookery has actually expanded since it began in the 1950s. The Skagit Land Trust, whose land it’s on, does not allow public disturbance of the rookery woods which are perched up on a bluff. For more information about the rookery, see Herons' haven | Partners working to ensure March Point population flourishes.
Interestingly, there’s yet another eagle’s nest right there in the rookery. You’d think the herons would not be happy about that but actually the eagles are a net benefit. While they will eat a few heron chicks during the season, their presence protects the rookery from any other eagles passing through, who would be a much bigger predation hazard.
Along the muddy low tide margin of neighboring Padilla Bay, hundreds of herons were mostly fishing, but also coming and going from their nests. The fishy abundance of Padilla bay supports this gigantic rookery.
The interior of the flats has been farmed for 150 years. River delta soil is very fertile. Signs of old barns and tree plantings abound.
Spring: the busy season for farmers and nesting birds there on the delta. For wildlife watchers things will be relatively quiet now until the waterfowl, shorebirds and raptors arrive next fall.
🦅
Sunny and mild in the PNW islands today. Temps in the mid 50s.
WHAT’S UP IN NATURE IN YOUR AREA TODAY?