Anacortes – Skagit Birding Tour

Joanne and Andy arrived on the early morning ferry from San Juan Island.  They’re spending a week there as a base and ferrying every day to a different island to explore.  What a brilliant idea!  They added the Anacortes “Wild Side” Eco Tour on Fidalgo Island to complete their island hop adventure.  The focus of their Adventure was to find birds, so off we went!

Our first stop along the Anacortes-Skagit Birding Tour was to check an osprey’s nest but it was vacant.  A family of four have been living there but perhaps they’ve left to begin their migration south.

Next, we walked along a forested trail identifying the forest birds we encountered.  Among others were spotted towhee, song sparrow, winter wren, northern flicker, red-breasted nuthatch, junco and a pileated woodpecker we heard.  Along the way, we checked out the rocky shoreline and we found them!  And heard them, of course: a pair of oystercatchers prying into and slurping up barnacles.  At the next shoreline lookout, we were surprised by four harbor porpoise feeding; one of them was the cutest little calf!

Next on our Anacortes-Skagit Birding Tour, we drove down to Whidbey Island. Check, another island added to their list they had not expected!  We drove down to the beach hoping to see shorebirds running in the sand but there weren’t any. Only gulls and the one thing you can always count on: the “octopus” tree, an 850 yr-old Douglass Fir contorted (like no other tree I’ve seen elsewhere) by centuries of wind.After enjoying fish tacos in Anacortes, we headed to Skagit Bay.  Making our way through the farm fields, we saw several raptors including a female rough-legged hawk soaring beautifully.

At the slough, we came upon a group of very entertaining long-billed dowitchers fully engaged in their “sewing machine” action, probing up and down in the mud collecting food.  Nearby were the much slender and elegant yellow-legs.  In the adjacent slough, we spied on a couple of female gadwalls and northern shovelers.

“Wow, we saw more birds today than the entire time we’ve been on the islands!” Joanne and Andy cheered as they reviewed their list and photographs for a total of 23 species.  It was a wonderful day for me too!  Thank you Joanne and Andy for being such a pleasure to bird with.

For more information and details go to Book my Anacortes-Skagit Birding Tour!