The first stop of my trip to the ocean last week was at Fir Island, the flat triangular land enclosed by the Skagit River at its delta. In the olden days the delta was a swampy estuary that flooded frequently, both by the river carrying prodigious winter runoff down to the Salish Sea and by the sea itself at high tide and in storm surges. Settlers a century ago carved miles of drainage canals and built up a seaward wall of dikes to make use of the fertile delta soil for agriculture. You can imagine how incredibly rich a habitat this was before it was confined and drained, but even now thousands of birds make use of this changed land. In these pictures I’m standing atop the dike, and as you can see looking landward even all these earthworks can’t keep the land completely dry at this time of year. Snow geese and swans forage in these wet dormant fields through the winter. This afternoon it was cold and heavily overcast, meaning even darker than usual (bad for photos), but luckily this kind of weather doesn’t deter the birds.
The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Rain, sun, wind...insects, birds, flowers...meteorites, rocks...seasonal changes...all are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.
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I was hoping to see some of the big flocks of white birds on the Flats, but most were far off the road. One flock did pass noisily overhead.
The dike is usually a good place to see shorebirds, especially in the muddy shallows of the saltchuck. That’s where I saw the murmurating dunlins earlier. This time the tide was very high — no exposed flats for shorebirds (although I could see them flying in the distance).
But you never know what you might see on Fir Island. On this afternoon it turned out to be birds of prey! I heard a Red-tailed hawk, and then streaking past me a small raptor...white rump flash...so not a Red-tail but a Northern Harrier (never did see the Red-tail).
The Harrier circled back, passed me again, cruising alongside the dike. Harriers hunt small rodents.
Bald Eagles are abundant in the Skagit Flats in mid-winter. After gorging on spawned-out salmon upriver (as on the Nooksack, see RonK’s recent Bucket), they come down to the delta for the birds. Mostly you see eagles perched on trees, conserving energy, but something exciting was going on a little ways down the shore from where I was standing this afternoon. I couldn’t quite see over the edge of the dike but there were several eagles screeching, soaring and diving over that spot. Bald eagles are unusually sociable birds of prey.
One was an adult:
...the others youngsters, nearly adult. This one cruised by me headed for the spot. Its head and tail feathers have patches of black still.
While the adult perched on a post, the youngsters circled and dived. The multitudes of ducks and shorebirds, and especially the thousands of Snow geese are easy food here on the Flats, but eagles are reluctant to waste energy. As the American Bald Eagle Foundation puts it,
Bald Eagles acquire their prey in three ways. In order of preference, they are stealing from others, scavenging on carrion, and hunting and killing. Eagles often steal prey from one another, but will also steal from ospreys, gulls, loons, mergansers, hawks and sea otters. Even in winter foraging areas, such as the Chilkat Valley, where an abundance of salmon carcasses are available, Bald Eagles will often prefer to rob the prey of other eagles.
It was tempting to go and look at what they were doing, but (1) I’d be trespassing and (2) I’d scare them off. So, an intriguing mystery :)
Then — a Life Bird moment! I thought it was another Harrier flying low along the dike but then I saw its flat face...an owl! From my photos I ID’d it as Short-eared Owl. These nomadic winter visitors primarily eat voles and other small rodents in open fields. Reports say they are not uncommon on the Flats, but we don’t have habitat like this where I live. The owl may have been cruising the dike for prey like the Harrier was...as a high spot, it would be a refuge for flooded rodents.
The owl turned its head to look at me so I got a good view of its distinctive face. How cool is that, even on a dark winter’s afternoon. Another good day at the Fir Island dike!
As alway, all nature observations welcome in the comments below. Tell us what you’re seeing in your own natural neighborhood.
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