Mount Baker from Iverson Spit Preserve.

Common mergansers at Iverson Spit Preserve. Thought they were grebes at first. Very cute with their ducktails. There were some grebes there, but they were to far away to get a good picture.

Drove by where I saw the hawks in Stanwood again. Saw the one above. It hardly noticed me, it was so busy scanning for prey.

Corn field by where I’m staying. It is looking south towards Camano Island and Skagit Bay.

Finally found out what has been growing in the field outside my window: cucumbers! They are harvesting them in the pictures above. The top picture is looking west towards Whidbey Island.

Magnificent man in his flying machine. Don’t know if he was flying for pleasure or to check on farmland. I have seen several small private planes and helicopters fly low over farmland.

I’m getting ready to leave the area next week. Had hoped to stay to see the geese and swans start to arrive, but it’s best if I start south. I would like to revisit some places, like the San Diego Zoo and the sandhill cranes in New Mexico, and also see some new places, maybe Big Bend Park in Texas. I will try to return to this area early in 2009, while the migrating birds are still in the area.

Sauk Mountain Road is a dirt/gravel road that goes through and above Rockport State Park to a peak on Sauk Mountain. It was quite a thrill ride driving the steep, pothole riddled, one-lane road through the beautiful forest. The top picture is facing west, through the blue haze, towards Mount Vernon and Burlington and the islands and ocean beyond. The lower picture is facing east where the Skagit River comes from the Cascades. There is an old hang gliding platform facing this direction.

The trail you can take to the peak through alpine like meadows and wildflowers.

This is the area where the 14-year-old boy killed a hiker while bear hunting in August.

Bowman Bay and Rosario Beach are part of Deception Pass State Park on the northwest side of the bridge, on Fidalgo Island rather than Whidbey Island. Think the  above two ducks are mallards. One seems to have a green coat growing in on its’ head. They used their bills to get under the pebbles to get to a food source.

There is a university marine lab next to Rosario Beach. A teacher from there said the above ducks are “scooters”. That would make them white-winged scooters.

Bowman Bay is shown above. Rosario Beach is just around the bend in the top picture. The bay seems to be a good place to launch a kayak. There is a professional kayak tour service on site.

The farm land outside my window was watered all of one day. There was standing water a lot of places. The farmer knows what he is doing. It has been clear and in the 70′s during the day, but cool at night. There is a light frost on the ground in the morning.

This baby swallow did not know enough to be afraid of me. I have become a fan of swallows since being here. They have to rank with hummingbirds at being fast and adept in the air. They can transfer food from one to another in mid-flight. At dusk here, they start weaving in and out catching insects in the air.

The last week or so has seen cooling temperatures, probably down 10 degrees from most of August. With the cooling, the swallows have become much less visible. They are gone from the telephone wires and sunning themselves on the sides of the buildings.

A couple of clear, cold nights caused the farmers to put large water jets in place in case it got close to freezing. Luckily, the cloud cover returned last night and the temperatures were warmer.

Another sign of the change in season, it’s hunting season. The Skagit Gun Club either owns or rents a number of farming lots within a mile of where I’m at. I heard the first shots yesterday. A man got in a ATV with a gun and not much later I heard the shots.  Luckily, most ducks I’ve seen in this area take off when they see people. Also, the Department of Fish and Game are nearby and can keep an eye on hunters to insure they are following the rules.

Just recently, a 14-year-old boy in Concrete, Washington shot and killed a woman hiker while out hunting for bear with his 17-year-old brother. He had taken a class on hunting with a gun (when he was 9-years-old) and thus it was legal for him to hunt without adult supervision. His trial is just starting.

A heron by a farming channel. The heron’s here are just like the ducks in flying off when they see people. Pretty sure it is illegal to hunt herons though.

There are wild blackberries all over this area. Also have noticed the above red “pod”. Not sure what it is.

The crop outside my window has really grown in the last month. It has flowers like a zucchini plant, but the plants are so close together, it must be some other type of squash. Boxes of bees have been set out in the field to help pollinate the plants. I have never seen the field being watered. The intermittent drizzle and the more significant rain we got this past week seems to have provided all the water needed.

This is the barn seen in the distance in the top picture. Old barns like these are all over Washington. It would make a good photographic project to photograph all the barns you come across. Some are almost totally collapsed, but still being used.

The farm I am next to is the last one on the block, so to say. Beyond it is marsh land next to Skagit Bay. Across the bay is Whidbey Island and the Naval Air Station. (Still enjoy seeing the jets fly overhead.)

There are two small islands near the shoreline that I just found out you can walk out to when the tide is low. I’ve added this to my to do list.

Corn field to the east of me. Won’t be long before it is ready to harvest.

Above: Mount Vernon, Washington looking west towards Anacortes. You may be able to see the Skagit River winding through town. Fir Island is considered part of Mount Vernon, albeit in the boondocks.

This house is along the main road to Fir Island. The DirectTV dish caught my attention. Most of the old homes in the area look so great I wondered if there was an ordinance that you had to paint your house every year. The above house is really an anomaly.

What you can’t see above, there is a tidy yellow house right behind this old one. Really!

Highway 20 that goes west to Anacortes and Whidbey Island, is called the North Cascades Scenic Byway as it heads east. Several times now I’ve driven 40-50 miles on it to the small towns of Concrete and Rockport. The area is known for having a lot of eagles in the winter along the Skagit River. They say they have the largest population of eagles in the contiguous United States. I recall Oregon makes the same claim. Suffice to say both states have a lots of eagles.

The pictures above are from Rockport State Park. It contains an old growth forest, with some trees that are 400-600 years old. It was converted from a camping park to a day use only park last year because of instability of some of the trees.  They have a picnic area and some nice trails.  There is a beautiful county park just a few miles from it, Howard Miller Steelhead Park, that is right along the Skagit River. It is mainly a reservation park, but does have a few first come first come first served sites. When I drove through it during the week, there were lots of empty sites. Rasar State Park is also not far away and has reservation camping.

I debated staying in this area to better explore it. There is the Mt. Baker area and the Cascades, and also a 20 mile bike path from Sedro-Woolley to Concrete. However, I’m so happy in Skagit Flats, I’m going to continue to stay there.

Looking north across the Skagit River near Rockport.

Padilla Bay is a “Nationa Estuarine Research Reserve” run jointly by Washington State and NOAA.  There is an interpretive center for both public education and for research and monitoring. Bay View State Park is located a short distance from the interpretive center.

When the tide goes out in the bay, so does most of the water, leaving miles and miles of intertidal mudflats. The top picture was taken at high tide, on a sunny day, along a 2.2 mile bike path along the bay. The bottom picture was taken on a cloudy day, during low tide. There are usually herons in the area and heron rookeries are nearby. A heronry cam is online from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Saw another cedar waxwing along the bike path.

Lots of thistle around.

A year ago, $4.42 for diesel would have been outrageous. Now it is such a relief to have it below $5.00. It was $5.50 when I was in California. Know the price will just get low enough to get people driving more, then it will shoot up again, probably past $5.50.

I am in Skagit County, Washington, an incredible place. It is around 40 miles from Port Townsend, but of course I took the long way around on the #101 and the #5, to avoid paying a large ferry fee. After driving through overcast Seattle and then coming to the beautiful, sunny farmland in Skagit County, I knew this was someplace I would like to stay for a while. The rv park I’m at is on Fir Island, with the Skagit river on one side and farmland on the other. There are places all around to explore. Whidbey Island is just to the east, with Deception Pass State Park. There is also a naval air station there and their jets fly right over where I’m staying. It’s like a free air show. I have to jump up and look every time a jet goes by. It is probably a reflex from my childhood.

The city of Anacortes, on Fidalgo Island, is 11 miles away. They have a beautiful park, Washington Park, that has a scenic loop road you can drive, but be forewarned, don’t drive anything longer than 20 feet. I drove my truck and had to back up and maneuver to get around sharp curves.

The two pictures above were taken at Washington Park. It is the first picture I’ve gotten of a Cedar Waxwing. It was eating berries, as I guess they are prone to do. The deer below it was eating the same berries.

Black Oystercatchers.

Anacortes is a tourist town and seems to want to develop every square inch of their land. There is a subdivision next to Washington Park and another subdivision is in the process of being built next to it. (OK, step off the soapbox).

Also at Washington Park, a wooden ship with the ferry to the San Juan Island in the background.

Barn swallows enjoying the sun at my rv park. Skagit Flats, the area I’m in, was named a birding hotspot a few years ago, but fall and winter are the prime times for birding.

View from a hang gliding spot above Skagit Flats. Guess the goal is to get past the trees and land in farm land.