Whatcom Shores

On March 5, Andrea Warner led a "Whatcom Shores" field trip focused on water birds like ducks, grebes and loons. The 11 participants started at Blaine Harbor, continued on to Semiahmoo Spit, Birch Bay State Park and finished up at a field just off Slater Road. Blue skies and sunshine made a wonderful day even more enjoyable--the group found 53 species in all, including all three scoters (black, surf and white-winged), three grebe species (horned, eared and red-necked), two loons (common and Pacific), numerous ducks and four shorebirds (dunlin, greater yellowlegs, killdeer and black oystercatcher). Highlights included unusually close looks at long-tailed duck and Pacific loon, the elusive blackscoter and eared grebe, a ruddy duck, a Eurasian wigeon and a leucistic red-tailed hawk.