Excellent Birding on the Lummi Flats

This weekend I spent both days birding the Lummi Flats. I'd birded there once before, but it was super windy so we didn't see much at all. I had a couple of targets, northern shrike, snow bunting, and horned lark, but I was mostly excited to explore a new area. 

The majority of the flats are bird-able by car, which was good for day one since the weather was pretty poor. It was windy and rainy, but with some optimism I drove the 20 minutes to the flats Saturday afternoon. I had plans to go with my roommate Toren the next day, so I figured at worst I could scout out some areas to visit. 

I drove the rural roads, not seeing much at first, until I reached the start of Kwina road. I spotted a great egret, a well documented rarity at the Lummi flats, flying off and barely had time for a photo before it disappeared. I stopped my car and noticed a flock of 3 small birds flying overhead. I initially thought they were dunlin, but with a closer look they were Wilson's snipes! While not the rarest species, snipes are elusive and always an exciting find! There were also several northern harriers patrolling the fields.

Female northern harrier.

Wilson's snipes in flight.

While the birding was decent, aside from a few close encounters with northern harriers the flats were quiet. After about an hour on the flats, I decided to drive to Lake Terrell before it got dark, only about a 5 minute drive away. By the time I arrived it was getting dark, so I only birded for 20 minutes. Most of the waterfowl was in the middle of the lake, but there was the largest flock of ruddy ducks I had ever seen! At least 50-60.

Ruddy duck and ring-necked ducks take flight.

On day two we waited for a break in the rain to get started. We left Bellingham around 1pm and arrived at the flats by 1:30. The wind and rain were lighter than yesterday, and we immediately noticed more bird activity. Toren had never birded the flats, so we hoped to find him lots of lifers. We headed to the aquaculture dike first, since snow buntings had been seen there recently.

When we arrived we found large flocks of greater scaups, buffleheads, a few horned grebes, and green-winged teals. We walked out along the dike and after only a few minutes Toren pointed out a small white and brown bird on the rocks. It was a snow bunting! It seemed comfortable with our presence and we got some great looks and photos before continuing down the dike.

Farther down the dike we spotted several surf scoters, a belted kingfisher, and both pelagic and double-crested cormorants. Right as we were about to turn around, we spotted a second snow bunting just past the end of public access! It was noticeably paler than the first.

As we made our way back down the dike we saw several large dunlin flocks and a pacific harbor seal, but not much else on the walk back. As we arrived at the car, we spotted the great egret again. As we watched, a great blue heron chased the egret towards us, giving us some great views!

Trumpeter swans flying overhead.

The first snow bunting, so cool!

The second snow bunting.

Great egret being chased away by a great blue heron.

Dunlins over the water.

We had already spent a few hours just birding the dike, so after spending some time watching the egret we decided to move on to Lake Terrell. On our drive out we spotted Cooper's hawks, bald eagles, northern harriers, and eurasian collared doves. As I drove towards Lake Terrell I suddenly noticed a large colorful bird on the side of the road. I hit the brakes and pulled up next to a ring necked pheasant. These eurasian birds were introduced for hunting, and while they aren't native, they're still a gorgeous species.

Ring necked pheasant along the highway.

When we arrived at Lake Terrell, it was similar to the day before. There were lots of waterfowl in the center of the lake, but not much near shore. We spotted American coots, pied-billed grebes, buffleheads, ring-necked ducks, American wigeons, and of course plenty of ruddy ducks. In the woods we found ruby-crowned and golden-crowned kinglets, song sparrows, black-capped chickadees, and 2 northern harriers.

Ruddy ducks at Lake Terrell.

We stayed at the lake for about an hour and left as it was getting dark. We were both super happy with our day of birding, I had gotten a lifer snow bunting and Toren had lots of lifers (snow bunting, dunlin, great egret, northern harrier, Cooper's hawk, ruddy duck, and greater scaup). We assumed our day was done, but as we drove back home Toren suddenly spotted an owl in a tree. We both assumed it was a barred owl, but I decided to turn around and take a look. 

The owl was in a bare tree just off a small gravel road, I drove down the road and stopped to take a look. As I looked through my binoculars I immediately noticed it wasn't a barred owl. It lacked the prominent barring on the tail, and had a massive facial disk with two beady yellow eyes. I instantly recognized it as a great gray owl, but it took my mind longer to accept it. This was a species I never expected to see in Whatcom county and I couldn't believe our luck! 

We watched the owl for a few minutes before a cooper's hawk flew in and chased it away. It was a perfect ending to an already great day of birding.

The great gray owl flying away from a harassing cooper's hawk.