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Reporter's name: Paul Neis
Sighting Description: A leucistic Bald Eagle was spotted yesterday by the WAS Birding Class, on
our field trip to Samish Flats, with Joe Sheldon. I was lucky enough to get photos of him
flying with a normal bird, for comparison.
Location: Samish Flats, east 90.
Date and time: 1/19/19, 12:00 PM
Comment submitted Jan 20, 2019
Reporter's name: Rob and Traci York
Sighting Description: At 9:55 am while walking along the NE portion of the Pratt Loop trail,
adjacent to the barbed wire fence line in Coupeville, we counted 65 yes,, sixty-five Killdeer!
They were in the area that has a crop coming out of the soil about 2 in. We have never seen
more than a few Killdeer at any one time here on Whidbey until today.
Location: Pratt Loop Trail
Date and time: 13 January 9:55am
Comment submitted Jan 13, 2019
Reporter's name: Dave Parent, Joe Sheldon
Sighting Description: Just a "keep your eyes open" post!
Christmas Bird Count - I got a distant scope view of a very large, heavy bodied, blue-grey
falcon flying low to the ground, powerful slowish wing beats. I saw the face for a split second
and it had faint mustaches. The rest of the sighting was a back view. This bird flushed and
then chased a flock of 26 Cackling Geese. As the geese frantically flapped, the falcon kept up
the steady, powerful flight. The wingspan of the falcon was longer than the cacklers. The hunt
was unsuccessful and the falcon peeled off and out of sight. My first impression was Gyrfalcon,
a bird I have seen on numerous occasions. I am still about 90% confident it is a Gyr. Maybe
someone out there can confirm!
Location: The large farm field bordered by Mutiny Bay Rd, HWY 525, Cameron and Bush Point
Roads.
Date and time: December 29, 3pm
Comment submitted Jan 2, 2019
Reporter's name: Carla Corin
Sighting Description: Northern Shrike perched in willows byedge of Marsh.
Location: Freund Marsh, Oak Harbor
Date and time: December 31, 2018, around 11:30 a.m., still there when we passed by again a bit
after noon.
Comment submitted Dec 31, 2018
Reporter's name: Carla Corin
Sighting Description: Male Canvasback with a flock of Greater Scaup and Surf Scoters along City
Beach in OakHarbor. I've never seen a Canvasback there!
Location: City Beach,Oak Harbor
Date and time: 12/21/18 around noon
Comment submitted Dec 22, 2018
Reporter's name: Shirley hendricson
Sighting Description: For the past 3 weeks, American Goldfinch in beautiful non-breeding colors
have been enjoying my backyard feeders. Started with 1 and now have 12-16 feeding and bathing
every day. Anyone else seeing these? This is a first for my backyard in winter.
Location: Lagoon Point on the bluff, Greenbank, WA
Date and time: 12/19/18
Comment submitted Dec 19, 2018
Reporter's name: Traci and Robert York
Sighting Description: Female Short Eared Owl
Location: West side of Crockett Lake on a metal T post -photo taken through binocular lens.
Date and time: 12/10/18 @ 2:45
Comment submitted Dec 10, 2018
Reporter's name: Vincent Hagel
Sighting Description: 46 Black Oyster Catchers feeding along the shoreline.
Location: Oak Harbor City Beach in front of the new sewage disposal facility. Spread about two
hundred yards.
Date and time: Today, Saturday, December 8 at about 2 p.m.
Comment submitted Dec 8, 2018
Reporter's name: Vincent Hagel
Sighting Description: Update to all white ring-billed gull posting. I was much closer to the
bird again yesterday. The bill is a pale yellow, with the clearly marked black ring around the
end of the bill. The legs and feet are pink, not black. It is a much larger gull, at least
15-20% larger than the dozen immature ring-bills it was traveling with, so large that it seemed
like a giant next to them, like a seven foot basketball player walking among six footers. It
walked around the grassy area with them, but they would not quite mingle with it on land. They
flew to a nearby pond, and the dozen immatures swam together, but the all white gull had to
swim around the pack at about twenty feet away. If it swam toward them, they would move away
slightly, keeping their distance.
Location: Whidbey Golf Course
Date and time: 12/1/2018 at about noon.
Comment submitted Dec 2, 2018
Reporter's name: Vincent Hagel
Sighting Description: Around noon today, Nov. 30th, I saw a completely white gull. ALL of its
feathers were white. The bill was very pale, almost white, with a black ring, like a ring
billed gull. The eyes were black, not pink, and I couldn't get a good look at the legs, but I
"feel" like they were black. The bird was fairly elusive, though it was walking about and
feeding with some immature ring billed gulls. I was about forty or fifty yards from it. A
friend who was with me today said he saw the same bird yesterday at a different location on the
golf course.
Location: Seen at the Whidbey Golf Club
Confirmation: I only list this as rare, not because it's a ring billed gull, but I've been an
avid birder for forty years and have never seen an all white gull before today.
Date and time: 11/30/2018 at about noon.
Comment submitted Nov 30, 2018
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Schedule changes: Remember to check this space a few
hours before any
Whidbey Audubon Society event in case weather or illness
cancels it. Consider
signing up to receive updates by email.
Birding in the Neighborhoods - Weekly Field Trips
South Whidbey
The trips are every other Thursday and the meeting time
varies with the season.
If you would like to be notified of the events, contact
Cathi Bower (email)
.
North Whidbey
The trips are on the 2nd Wednesday of each month. If you
wish to be notified
of the events, contact Marcia Lazoff (email)
.
Thursday, February 14: Meetingp
Puget Sound Seabird Survey
A community and citizen science survey managed by Seattle Audubon that empowers volunteer
birdwatchers to gather valuable data on wintering seabird populations in Puget Sound, Strait of
Juan de Fuca, and waters surrounding the San Juan Islands will be introduced. Learn how it
works, what has been discovered and why this is important. Unitarian Universalist Congregation,
20103 State Route 525, Freeland. Doors open at 7 p.m., meeting at 7:15, the program begins at
7:30. The public is welcome to this free program.
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Picture Gallery
Post your pictures
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Leucistic Bald Eagle, Photo #2
-- Paul Neis |
Hutton's Vireo?
-- Debbie Stoetzel |
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Possession Point Black Scoters
-- George
Heleker |
Flicker, Yellow-shafted
-- Jann Ledbetter
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Deer Lagoon Snow Bunting
-- George Heleker
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Deer Lagoon Barred Owl
-- George Heleker
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Fir Island
-- Michael |
Barred Owl
-- Lori Erikson
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Black-Throated Gray Warbler
-- John Schuster
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Merlin
-- Michael Sheldon
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Adult and Chick Bald Eagles
-- John
Keller |
-- Michael Sheldon |
-- John Schuster |
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