Birds of Winter

Skagit Farm to Pint Ale Trail

Hundreds of Miles of Trails to Hike in our Mountains and Forests

Islands, Beaches and Deception Pass for Adventures on our Coastline

Follow the Skagit River | Find Your Flow

Sip & Savor

Sip & Savor

Farmer’s Markets, Stands & U-Pick

Farmer’s Markets, Stands & U-Pick

Boating + Kayaking+ SUP

Boating + Kayaking+ SUP

Chuckanut Drive

Chuckanut Drive

Biking & Hiking

Biking & Hiking

Whale Watching

Whale Watching

Birding

Birding

Tours

Tours

North Cascades National Park

North Cascades National Park

Deception Pass

Deception Pass

Museum Passport

Museum Passport

Festivals

Festivals

#exploreskagit

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Jan 21

Hi! It’s Nancy again.

I decided to finish the week with the birds we’re most known for in the winter: snow geese and swans. There’s nothing quite like coming upon a field of snow geese and pulling over to listen and watch them fly when disturbed by a predator such as an eagle. Please do not stress the birds by intentionally trying to make them fly. They are here to fatten up for their long flight home to Wrangel Island, off the coast of Russia, where they will breed over the summer.

The snow geese are recognizable as small white geese with black tips on the bottom side of their wings. If you are under a gaggle of them in flight, make sure you wear a hat because they will eliminate what they’ve been eating! Finding them can be tricky as they can be out on the water, or in a field. They tend to gather in the fields on Fir Island toward the end of their stay here – March and early April – but you may find them any time after they start arriving in October.

You may see gray geese among the white adults. These are the juvenile offspring. Geese and swans mate for life and tend to feed together. Occasionally you will see a darker gray goose with a white head – this is a “blue goose” – also a snow goose, just a different color morph. I have a photo of one in today’s images for you to see the difference.

We get two types of swans – trumpeter and tundra. The trumpeters are very large and sound like, well, trumpets! Tundra swans are smaller than trumpeters and have a distinct yellow “tear drop” mark under their eyes. I have included images of both in today’s collection for you to see the difference. Look closely for the yellow teardrop.

You may notice small, reflective squares on power lines throughout the valley. Those are bird flight diverters designed to keep birds from colliding with power lines. When you see how much runway the swans need to take off you will understand why these are necessary. I have included images of trumpeter swans taking off from water to show their “running start.”

To follow me in the future please visit my personal accounts: @crowellphotography and/or @crowellwildlife.

#magicskagit
#visitskagit
#skagitbirds
#birdsofwinter

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Jan 20

Hi! This is Nancy Crowell again. Just a reminder if you have enjoyed my posts this week, head on over to my personal accounts and give me a follow: @crowellphotography and/or @crowellwildlife.

Today I want to talk about hawks. Specifically Buteos – described by Audubon as “the large, broad-winged, short-tailed lugs with spare and labored wing beats.” Think shoulder pads. Buteos look like linebackers compared to other hawks.

In our area the most common Buteo is the red-tailed hawk. You can see them hunting from wires all over the valley. (They are also in trees, but are most visible on wires.) They are easily identified by their red (as in Robin’s breast red) tails, although their colors range from dark to light. I learned from local hawk expert Bud Anderson to quickly identify them them as “dark head, white chest, indistinct bellyband.”

Sometimes you will run across a red tailed hawk here with a big blue number tag, or white or orange. These are wing tags of fledglings caught at airports and relocated to save the planes and the birds. Blue=SeaTac, White=Vancouver BC and Orange=Portland. The tags do not interfere with their flight and are easy for researchers to spot, so provide a less stressful way to track them than catching and reading bands.

The Buteo that I love to see, that only migrates here in winter, is the gorgeous rough-legged hawk. They have light heads, light chests and really dark belly bands. Usually. Sometimes they are a darker color. But the easiest way to confirm they are rough-legged is to see if their feathers go all the way to their feet. Hence the name rough-legged.

You will also see rough-legged hawks on wires throughout the valley. This year I have spotted four distinct individuals, but there may be more.

Finally – how do you tell if you have gotten too close to a bird on a wire? (Or another perch). Scroll to my last image. Yep, they will “lighten their load” before flying off!

Watch carefully – if you are too close for comfort, the bird will start to shift and then relieve itself.

Photos here alternate between of red-tailed hawks and rough-legged.

#visitskagit
#birdsofwinter
#skagitbirds
#magicskagit
#redtailedhawk

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Jan 19

Hi, this is Nancy Crowell again. You can follow my personal accounts @crowellphotography and/or @crowellwildlife

Oh my, what is THAT bird?

The emperor goose pictured here is a rare winter visitor to Skagit. It was first spotted on December 5th and I was able to find it and take photos on January 12th & 13th. (I don’t know if it’s still here. This bird was part of a pair, but unfortunately its mate was killed illegally. The hunter was caught and cited because a birder witnessed the event. This lone bird stayed around, hanging out with Brant geese for at least a month.) These birds are from Alaska and have rarely been seen in our area.

Alert birders are often the first to see an unusual visitor, but not always. Word does travel quickly among diehard birders, though, when a rare bird is seen.

This seems to happen with some regularity in Skagit – both during the fall and in the winter, and occasionally in summer, likely because we are on the Pacific Flyway. Last year (or maybe the year before?) the big buzz was about a huge European great crane that showed up in a farmer’s field. It was hanging out with some Canada geese for a couple of weeks. We have also had the occasional snowy owl, and one summer we even had a painted bunting! This past October a black-necked stilt appeared at the Fir Island Farm Restoration area (known locally as Hayton). Two birds in the area this year that I have not yet seen or photographed, but am currently trying to find, are a prairie falcon seen frequently on Samish Flats and a Bohemian waxwing (common on the other side of the mountains) at Wiley Slough.

The photos in this post include the emperor goose, great crane, black-necked stilt, and a snowy owl – first, the one on Samish Flats being mobbed by crows, then a flight shot from a different location not in Skagit.

Have you spotted a rare bird? What was it?

#visitskagit
#magicskagit
#skagitbirds
#birdsofwinter
#emperorgoose
#greatcrane
#blackneckedstilt
#snowyowl

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Jan 18

Today let’s talk about DUCKS! Skagit Valley gets soooo many ducks in winter. Honestly, before I lived here I knew mallards and . . . other ducks. Now I am continuously amazed at the variety and beauty of the ducks we get to see, pretty much everywhere.

The abundance of ducks means birders, photographers and hunters often share the same resources for being outdoors. Duck hunting season is over the end of January. One of the more popular spots for hunters is Wiley Slough, located at the end of Wylie Road on Fir Island, a multi-use Skagit Wildlife Area managed by WDFW. (Yes the road and the place have the same name but are spelled differently!) You will need a Discover Pass to visit. There are two parking lots and two easy trails. There are blinds available as well. In the fall there are many shorebirds visible, in the summer there is always at least one osprey, and in the winter it’s full of all kinds of ducks.

Ducks – there are dabbling ducks, like mallards and diving ducks like mergansers, and other ducks like coots. So many ducks to learn! If you are a hunter it’s essential to learn to properly ID ducks as there are only certain ducks you are allowed to harvest. I find myself increasingly interested in the variety of ducks and am surprised when I go back through old images I have shot to find goldeneyes, shovelers, pintails and more. Flip through the ducks I’m posting today and comment if you can identify any or all of them. Do you have a favorite duck?

You can follow my personal accounts @crowellphotography & @crowellwildlife

#skagitbirds
#visitskagit
#magicskagit
#birdsofwinter
#ducks
#wileyslough
#skagitwildlifearea
#ducksunlimited

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Jan 17

Hi! Good morning Skagit Visitors! My name is Nancy Crowell and I’ll be taking over @visitskagit this week to talk to you about the birds you can see here during the winter – both the ones you can count on and the occasional rarities that show up. If you like what I share here this week, please give me a follow at my personal accounts - @crowellphotography and @crowellwildlife

Let’s start the week with bald eagles because I know a lot of people come to see them in the winter. We have a few resident eagles that live in the valley year-round, but we have an ever-growing population that show up to feed on the salmon that return to spawn. You will see high concentrations of them on the rivers – especially in December.

Yesterday, for the first time in my 22+ years living here, I went on an eagle-watching river float down the Skagit (see today’s story) with Skagit River Guide Service. We lost count of the number of eagles we saw. For best eagle viewing I recommend booking earlier in the season if possible, but being on the river any time is fun. And don’t worry, they have heaters by each seat.

For land viewing of eagles, one of the most popular spots in the valley is just outside the town of Edison. There is a nest in a tree looking there over the Samish river and it’s not uncommon to see 40+ eagles there. But, this time of year, you really just need to look up and you’re likely to see eagles in trees all over the valley.

Also, golden eagles don’t live on this side of the mountains. People often confuse juvenile bald eagles with golden eagles because bald eagles take about five years to acquire their white heads and golden beaks. The juveniles have longer flight feathers than adults, so they actually appear larger. The combination of the larger appearance and the darker feathers often confuses people into thinking they are golden eagles. Every now and then we get a lone golden eagle visitor, but nine times out of ten you will be seeing juvenile bald eagles. Golden eagles have golden feathers on their nape even when immature.

#visitskagit
#magicskagit
#skagiteagles
#skagitbirds
#birdsofwinter
#skagitriverguideservice

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Jan 15

Welcome Nancy Crowell! Nancy will be taking over for the next week! Get ready and enjoy her view on the Skagit Birds of Winter Experience! @crowellphotography @crowellwildlife

#visitskagit #exploreskagit #magicskagit #skagitbirds #birdsofwinter #washingtonstate

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Jan 14

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Jan 9

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Jan 7

Discover what #MagicSkagit means to local #SkagitValley photographer Sarah Walls of @cedarbrookstudionw

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Jan 6

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Jan 2

Welcoming 2022 and all of the #SkagitValley adventures that await!

#visitskagit #exploreskagit #magicskagit #genuineskagitvalley

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Dec 29

#MagicSkagit over Cap Sante Marina!🔥❄️✨

📷: @photosbyrakan

#SalishSea #visitskagit #exploreskagit #experienceanacortes #capsantemarina #sunrise

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Dec 28

It's 'snow' much fun taking in all the winter sights here in Skagit County! This photo of a pair of Elk near the the Town of Concrete silo was taken by @xplrnw

Don't forget to tag #visitskagit in your adventures too!
🦌❄️✨

#skagitcounty #skagitvalley #magicskagit #exploreskagit #snowday #concretewa

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Dec 24

Season's Greetings from the Beautiful #SkagitValley 🦅🦅🌲❄️

📷: @cedarbrookstudionw

#visitskagit #lovelaconner #skagitbirds #exploreskagit #magicskagit #genuineskagitvalley

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Dec 19

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