Week 7

Week 7 Journal:  The Last Saturday Field Trip 

Location: Whidbey Island - Ebey's Landing.  Deception Pass, Skagit River Delta

This last Environment 280 Saturday field trip was special to me because we were visiting places that I have been before, which is something that hasn't happened yet on our class field trips.  The trip was all about the birds, but also a little about the natural history of course!
At Ebey's landing we were able to see a very historic area.  One of my favorite parts of this day was learning the history of the family, the land, and most of all their interactions with native indians.  Now unfortunately for me, the two women who live on this land, didn't explain in lecture format, like I would have liked because it was so interesting to me.
We had an hour to two hours to hike, observe, and explore this area and to the left and right are photos of how I spent

my time on this part of the island.  The lagoon to the left was amazing and unexpected and to the right shows my brother Sam and I taking the steep walk from the end of the path to the beach below.

Species from the entire day:
Glaucous Winged Gull
Golden Crown Sparrow
Song sparrow
Bald Eagles
Red-Tailed Hawk
Marsh Wren
Sitka Spruce
Fungi/Lichen
Cackling Geese
King Fisher
Northern Carrier
Shorebirds
Killdeer
Golden-Eye Ducks

The bird catching near the parking lot at Ebey's landing was a very unique experience.  Looking back at my time in nature, it's very rare, if it ever even happened, to remember seeing birds this up close.  Seeing Jorge and Tim do something that is so in their element was inspiring and then to see the outcome, or the pictures to the left/right/below, was pretty rewarding for all who saw.  The other picture below is with my camera through the scope set up, trained on two bald eagles.  So regal and relaxed that it made me wish all of nature was like this.  Either that or I just wish there were way more bald eagles.

One of the places we stopped after Ebey's were bird watching stops along the Skagit River Delta.  It was one of the more interesting bird stops because, while there may not have been as many species as there were around Ebey's, there were some very different sights to observe.  We were all pretty stumped by the shorebird-type-birds that were flying in a huge pack a half mile away.  They stuck together very well and I personally could not see any birds with just my eyes, but when I got some binoculars or the scope up to my eyes, I was surprised I hadn't been able to see anything at all!

Cassie Maylor