Special Notice: Bird Photos

Craig Johnson has contributed some of his beautiful photographs for the birdlist. In most cases, clicking on the thumbnail picture will take you to a larger picture.

Anyone with pictures of birds on the list is welcome to send them to . Tom Ash has already given permission to use his splendid cedar waxwing photo.

Saturday, May 17: Finding Whidbey's Guillemots with Frances Wood, Guillemot Researcher and WAS President. We'll visit several Pigeon Guillemot breeding colonies along the west side of Whidbey. During May the birds return to their bluff colonies and engage in water games and other pair bonding behavior. Some beach walking. Meet at Trinity Park and Ride in Freeland at 9:00 to carpool. We'll finish by noon. Carpool

Tuesday, May 20, 2008: Birds of Au Sable, leader Joe Sheldon. Meet at Au Sable Institute at 9:00 am for this half-day walk around the fields and woods. Map. Carpool

Memorial Day Weekend, May 23-26, 2008: Wenas Campout. For information please see the Shorelines newsletter and http://www.wenasaudubon.org. Carpool

Thursday, June 12, 2008: Ron Sikes from Port Townsend will present a program on Gardening for Birds at the Coupeville Recreation Hall (map). The doors will open at 7 pm, the meeting will begin at 7:15, and the program will begin at 7:30. Carpool

Saturday, June 14, 2008: Field trip. More details later.

Thursday, May 8, 2008: Farming for Wildlife, One Year Later. Kevin Morse updated us on his research project. With money provided by a farmland bird grant he is showing farmers how to increase productivity while preserving habitat for birds in Skagit Co. Kevin will lead a field trip to see the birds that are attracted to the new habitat now available to them sometime this summer.

Saturday and Sunday, May 3 & 4: Birdathon. For more details, see next month's Shorelines newsletter.

Sunday, April 27: Cruise Bill and Renee Smith hosted a field trip on their sailboat. We began at the Coupeville dock, went through the Swinomish Slough, past LaConner, to the Padilla Bay Flats and back. Eight people attended.

The weather cooperated, mostly overcast, sometimes warm and only about 30 minutes of light rain. We were able to keep quite warm and toasty in the cabin of our boat. 36 species were spotted in all: Brant, American Wigeon, Northern Pintail, Greater and Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Red-breasted Merganser; Horned, Red-necked and Western Grebe; Double-crested and Pelagic Cormorants (several juveniles), Great Blue Heron, Bald Eagle, Rough-legged Hawk, Black-bellied Plover, Killdeer, Oystercatcher, Black Turnstone, Bonaparte Gull, Mew Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull, Caspian Tern, Pigeon Guillemot, Rock Pigeon, Belted Kingfisher, American Crow, Barn Swallow, White-crowned Sparrow, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Bank Swallow; White Winged and Surf Scoter. The highlights of the trip were many Common Loons, a Red-throated Loon and a Yellow-billed Loon at the Coupeville dock (all in breeding plumage).

These trips are a lot of fun and we'll do a couple next year also, so watch the Shorelines for postings as they fill up quickly.

Saturday, April 19
Steve Ellis led a field trip to Deception Pass.

Saturday, March 29, 2008
Sandy Shields and her stalwart crew braved snow and foul weather to check out bird habitats on the north end of the island.

Saturday, Mar. 15, 2008
Craig & Joy Johnson led a trip to Keystone Beach and Fort Casey. Once again the crew dodged both wind and rain. Pigeon guillemots got most of the attention at first, but pelagic, Brandt's and double-crested cormorants added diversion. Rhinoceros auklets, red-breasted mergansers, and harlequin ducks took advantage of the calm weather to bob for whatever they could find. In the woods, robins and winter wrens, with a bunch of golden-crowned sparrows and one spotted towhee, brightened the day.

Thursday, March 13, 2008
Whidbey Audubon Monthly Meeting. Local watercolor artist and photographer, Craig Johnson, and Joy Johnson, writer, made a multi-media presentation on local woodpeckers (downy woodpeckers, hairy woodpeckers, northern flickers, and pileated woodpeckers) complete with great photographs, bird-call recordings, and information on feeding and nesting habits, to an enthusiastic audience.

Saturday, February 23
Joe Sheldon led an awestruck party of explorers around the Bayview-La Conner environs. Cold winds in Oak Harbor gave way to warmth and calm in the wetlands. The startling display of bird variety included rough-legged hawks, coots, and long-billed dowitchers. Snow geese graced the fields with moments of ballet, earning the admiration of the audience.

Saturday, February 16th
Trustland Trails Park. Frances Wood introduced us to the new park located near Bayview. We joined with the Whidbey Walking group and focused on woodland songbirds.

Thursday, February 14, 2008
Presentation on Insect Ecology. Dr. Joe Sheldon held his audience enthralled as he explained camouflage techniques used by insects. Just as some birds have evolved aptitudes for finding insects, insects have evolved features for avoiding them. Some flies mimic wasps, driving away predators. Praying mantises hide from predators by resembling orchid flowers. Moths have their own tricks: some take the appearance of tree bark, or turn up their wings to show huge, fake eyes to discourage unwanted dinner guests. Some moth larvae can imitate small snakes. Thanks to Dr. Joe for a sparkling presentation.

Feb. 12, 2008
Phyllis Kind took us to Deer Lagoon. The weather threatened but was only bluffing. What impressed the surveyors most was the surprising variety of birds, with ducks galore. A black-bellied plover shared the beach with western sandpipers and two northern harriers harried a bald eagle which was snacking on some small rodent. Not a warm outing, but a good one.

January 26, 2008
Sandy Shields led the cold-weather crew to check on the birds around Fidalgo Island. All the lakes were frozen over, but shorebirds and seabirds made their presence felt. Star attractions included black turnstones, black oystercatchers, and harlequin ducks.

January 14, 2008
Boat trip on Penn Cove. The crew met at the Coupeville dock at 8:45 a.m. for this half-day trip to view ducks and seabirds. Many thanks to Bill and Renee Smith for hosting this outing on their sailboat.

January 10, 2008
Beck Straussner presented a fascinating presentation on whales of the North Pacific to a SRO crowd. Straussner is a commercial diver who once worked at SeaWorld as a dolphin and whale trainer and now is a marine researcher. His long and close relationship with whales gave us an expert's view of the magnificent creatures.


New Year's Day 2008
found the band of hardy adventurers surveying the wilds of the upper Skagit Valley. Undeterred by freezing temperatures, all monitored the disappointing performance of the native bald eagles, who mainly sulked on tree branches, no doubt resentful of the attention they received. A solitary red-tailed hawk showed them up and dozens of seagulls mocked their passivity.

On the way back, trumpeter swans put up a much more impressive display, gathering near Burlington in some hundreds on swan business.


December 22, 2007
Whidbey Audubon took part in the annual birdcount. Rain and fierce winds kept most of the birds under cover, but not the intrepid surveyors.