Winter Birds of the San Juan Valley

Posted February 14, 2013 at 5:18 am by

Wren photo by John Dustrude

Wren photo by John Dustrude

Join San Juan Islands Audubon and the San Juan County Land Bank on Saturday, February 16th, for a birding trip to the wetlands, fields, and woodlands of the San Juan Valley. The trip features a trail walk of a couple miles at the Land Bank’s King Sisters Preserve, as well as stops at other good birding spots in the valley. The ponds and wet areas are filled with wintering geese, swans and ducks and nearby trees host eagles and falcons hunting these areas. Surrounding woodlands hold small songbirds like chickadees and wrens and maybe the first Rufous Hummingbird of spring.

Conditions are wet so waterproof footgear is a must. Be prepared for wind and rain but it can also be nice. Bring a bag lunch, water, binoculars, hat, gloves and warm clothes. Meet at County Courthouse parking lot for carpooling as on-site parking is limited, at 8am. Trip ends early afternoon for ferry connections.

Call Barb Jensen for more information: 378-3068.

And while we’re on the the subject, they could use your help for events like this in the future. Here’s more from San Juan Islands Audubon:

Trumpeter Swans - photo by Diana Mancel

Trumpeter Swans – photo by Diana Mancel

We will be doing a series of field trips highlighting the public lands within our county. Have a special place you want to go? We need folks to help us with this. Most trips are about 3-4 hours long and really easy to do. Mostly what we need is someone to set out the places to go and help coordinate carpooling and answer questions (that is the contact person in the public announcement). There are always lots of birders along so you don’t need to know all the birds just be the logistics person or persons.  We are looking at a bird trip to Orcas in March (maybe a Land Bank trip in May), a Lopez trip in April and possibly a trip to American Camp on SJ on May 11 for Bloom Week and International Migratory Bird Day.

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Categories: Around Here

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