Greater Seattle, Washington area, 8/13-22/15

Skagit State Wildlife Recreaction Area; 8/21/15

Without my GPS unit, I decided to go to a site that I could find easily, so I went back to the Skagit State WRA. I got off I-5 at the correct exit, and only missed one turn to get there, but fairly easily found my way back to the site. There were many of the same sandpipers there, in addition to a good variety of duck species. I did see and hear a lot of small birds chirping and foraging at the edges of the ponds, but they were too quick for me to get a good look or any photos. Some of these small birds were brown, and others were dark gray. I finally got some photos of both species before leaving, but I will get to these birds later.

Greater Yellowlegs and Short-billed Dowitcher

Great Blue Heron

Purple Finch

Red-tailed Hawk

I watched a Belted Kingfisher do some aerial searches and diving for food, and the Bald Eagle was on its nest.

Belted Kingfisher

Belted Kingfisher

Bald Eagle

Common Yellowthroats were numerous and active, and I saw another flycatcher that I could not identify.

Common Yellowthroat

Common Yellowthroat

Unidentified Flycatcher

I met another birder, Gary Bletsch, on my return hike to the car, and he was very helpful telling me about the area. Gary asked what my highest priority bird to see was, and when I told him that it was a MacGillivray's Warbler, he told me that he had seen quite a few of them at the end of Bryson Road about a week earlier. Gary wasn't sure of the highways to take, but told me the towns to go through to find the site.

As I neared the parking lot, I was able to get some photos of the small birds that had eluded me earlier. The brown ones were Marsh Wrens.

Marsh Wren

Marsh Wren

But I couldn't identify the darker birds, even though I got some good photos. These birds have bills like that of a sparrow, but held their tails up like a wren. Turns out they are young Song Sparrows.

Song Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Song Sparrow

On my return trip on I-5, I saw a sign for one of the towns Gary had told me about for the MacGillivray's Warbler. It was 30 miles north of my hotel, and I decided to try that afternoon rather than making the drive north again the next morning. It was another 35 miles east of I-5 before I found Bryson Road. I was in a fairly remote area, parked my car, and started walking along the trail that paralleled the river. I saw the back end of a gray, good sized animal moving into the wooded area, and I hoped that it was a coyote, and not a wolf. No one knew that I was there. Well, the animal did not re-appear, and I saw only a few birds there, including a couple of Pine Siskins, but no warblers.