Birding in Neighborhoods South – April Sightings

By Cathi Bower

Early Spring is still loaded with duck sightings at Deer Lagoon (everything but Wigeons!) Ring-necks, Buffleheads, scaup, goldeneyes, Mallards, Pintails, and geese, Hooded and Red-breasted Mergansers, and everyone is stunning in their new seasonal plumage.  Along the dike path, all the usual suspects are busy pairing up and making ready for their 2026 models — Bushtits, chickadees, Brown Creepers, sparrows, Towhees, Rufus and Anna’s hummers, Robins, Red-winged Blackbirds and more!  Above the bluff, Crows harassing a Raven made for excellent size comparisons.  Plus seeing the otters is always a joy.

Finally, conditions came together for our delightful annual stroll through Waterman Shoreline Preserve (Protected Properties - Whidbey Camano Land Trust ), where we heard a First-of-season Western Flycatcher, got a great view of a Cooper’s Hawk perched, and watched a Bushtit pair working on their nest. A pleasant walk anytime, the best window is when warblers have arrived, but before the foliage becomes too dense to see birds. (Too late!  Be sure to go anyway.)

Previously fortified by Deer Lagoon’s duck, shorebird and raptor sightings, though absent at Waterman, we thoroughly enjoyed all the shrub tweeters and skulkers, and hummingbirds, flickers, a Pileated Woodpecker call, a Steller’s Jay and even the Crows. Plus the glorious sun patches along the way — which were for some reason, the best spots to bird.

Birding in Neighborhoods South (BIN South) meets every other Thursday morning at 9 a.m. Contact Cathi Bower. Watch the events calendar as the time may change to 8 a.m. meetup.