Green-winged Teal, Dike trail, Fir Island, Skagit Valley, Wash. State, 4-16-10. Reasonably sure the first photo is a male Green-winged Teal because of the dark green ear patch and vertical white bar. In photos 2 and 3, a female teal is present. They were feeding in an inland slough which connects to Skagit Bay. Clickable

Red-tailed blackbird, near Birch Bay Washington, 4-16-10. I’ve seen a lot of the red-tails at the Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary about 30 miles north of this location in Canada. I don’t see too many in this area because I don’t normally venture out into the wet meadows, the red-tails habitat. This bird was briefly atop a cattail but flew lower into the vegetation when I approached. Clickable

Fort Casey State Park and Keystone Spit, 4-23-10. One of my favorite spots on the west coast of Whidbey Island, and from here it’s a 20-30 minute ferry ride to Port Townsend and the Olympic Peninsula. The fort was one of three coastal military installations built to protect major cities in Puget Sound and the U.S. Navy shipyard in Bremerton. It was an active military post in WWI, WWII and the Korean War before being deactivated. Restored lighthouse is open to the public, and Crockett Lake nearby is good for bird watching. The Surf Scoter was near the Keystone Ferry Terminal. Clickables



Surf Scoter

Keystone Spit, continued, 4-23-10 The sign says Pigeon Guillemots frequent this old pier, but from this distance they look like Cormorants, except for the lone gull and Canada Goose. Clickables

Keystone Spit, continued 4-23-10. Was walking along a narrow path between an area of wild shrubs when this bird, which had been hidden in the shrubs, took off. I never did get a good view of the bird, and at first I misidentified it. Thanks to HWF’s bird-identification thread, Stephane set me straight. It’s owl-like face and V-shaped wings make it a Northern Harrier. Clickables

Northern Harrier

Keystone Ferry terminal, 4-23-10. Thanks to HWF member PacNorWest (Doug), I was on the lookout for the Canada Goose on the pilings by the ferry terminal. Doug posted some photos earlier this month on his Red River, Washington Eagles Thread when he was at this location. If this was a nest, I doubt any chicks could survive with all the seagulls sharing the platform. Clickables

Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge, Sequim, Wash., 4-24-10. It’s 11 miles roundtrip to the lighthouse at the end of the Dungeness Spit. Hiked to the lighthouse on 9-7-09 when the weather was much better. The day on 4-24-10 started partly sunny, and then it became very windy and started to rain with squall lines to the west. Decided not to continue to the lighthouse because of the bad weather. Not many shorebirds around other then a couple of loons and a Western Grebe. Clickables



Trail through forest to the beach


Western Grebe

Dungeness NWR continued, 4-24-10

Immature eagle on piling with Graveyard Spit and Dungeness Spit in background


Rainbow over Dungeness Lighthouse, six miles in distance


Looking west at squalls over Strait of Juan de Fuca