February 6, 2024
Fir Island. Skagit county, Washington
Bird activity on the Skagit flats winds down in February as winter migrants head back north for the breeding season. Nevertheless it’s always worth making a stop there if we have the chance, since we’re not over on the mainland much (in fact I schedule all my routine medical appointments for winter if I can, to have an especially good reason to take the onerous ferry trips over there). Fir Island is our go-to destination, so I consider it my “backyard”, a regular place to observe nature and wildlife. As to it being an island — that’s only in the sense it’s bordered by the channeled north and south forks of the Skagit river (bridges over both) and Skagit bay, a triangle of flatland river delta. But one which is a magnet for wildlife of many kinds, the most visible and dramatic being the wintering birds.
Tuesday was chilly but not raining or very windy. We made two stops. The first was at Hayton/Fir Island Farms Reserve, a favorite destination for us since there’s no hunting allowed. Every single person you see is there to appreciate the birds and scenery — we all smile as we pass each other. The tide was quite high which meant no shorebirds foraging and few ducks (some GW teal, mallards, pintails, wigeons, buffies) but we did see half a dozen cars at the parking lot which always bodes well. Who was there to see?
Lots of swans! About 20 in Browns slough, 10 in the mud bay, and 50 or so in the field to the west. All except two were Trumpeter swans. I did a double take as I observed four swans fly by, tootling….two of them did not have the dulcet tones of Trumpeter voices: those were Tundra swans. It was really good to see several swan families. Most of the many hundreds of swans on the flats this year, in flocks of 50 to 300 in various fields across the lowlands, were white, meaning adults. Previous years have had a higher percent of grey juveniles.
The swans at the reserve were foraging and snoozing. In the video below you can see in the first clip the swans in the shallows are kneading the mud, loosening up the roots of submerged weed before reaching down to pluck the strands. Another family in the slough itself decided to fly over to the field, and you can see how they gear up to go with a lot of talking amongst themselves. Trumpeter swans are gigantic and heavy — it takes a lot of work to get airborne.
.
There were also a lot of eagles at this site, mostly immatures of different ages. I noticed two were perched on the old cottonwood nest tree, which suggests the pair who have used the nest there for years have abandoned it. They would not allow the intrusion of young eagles, especially at this time of year.
As I headed back to the parking lot I saw one group of shorebirds after the next fly by from east to west, out along the edge of the bay. The title photo shows one. Every once in a while a whole lot would rise above the dike in that direction (there are hundreds of miles of these dikes, constructed in settler times to keep out the ocean and river, for agricultural fields, and in fact Fir “island” would not exist otherwise; this was all a huge delta with meandering creeks, sloughs and wetlands before the late 19th century).
We decided to see if the shorebirds would be visible from another WDFW site in that direction.
Jensen’s access is a public hunting/birding spot, and I have avoided it during the season after some unpleasant encounters. But hunting season closes the last Sunday of January and it would be empty now. After parking and climbing up onto the dike I was rewarded with a splendid and very active flock of dunlin along the edge of the water. There were some swans there too, who occasionally ruffled their feathers after getting buzzed by the shorebirds.
.
Swans and dunlin were the story on Tuesday at Fir Island. A nice late winter day of birding on the Skagit delta.
.
💧
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.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE PURPOSE AND HISTORY OF THE DAILY BUCKET FEATURE, CHECK OUT THIS DIARY: DAILY BUCKET PHENOLOGY: 11 YEARS OF RECORDING EARTH'S VITAL SIGNS IN OUR NEIGHBORHOODS
|
Cloudy, light N breeze in the PNW islands. Temps in low 40s.
WHAT’S UP IN NATURE IN YOUR AREA TODAY?