Friday on the Skagit

I couldn’t resist taking a drive up the Skagit yesterday to take some pictures for you. I have never seen so many eagles. Hopefully they will still be around next weekend when we are out there. At this point I expect we WILL have eagle watching sites set up on January 3rd and 4th.
Click on any of the thumbnails below to see a larger image.

Rockport State Park Entrance

Howard Miller Park entrance from Alfred Street

One lane is plowed through the park

Our meeting place

Eagle Interpretive Center

Snow is up to the guardrail on the 530 bridge

Two birds right by the highway. Taken from car window.

One lane plowed at MP 100 but no parking

Big berm leads to calf deep snow

Find the eagles in this pic

Slippery and white at the hatchery

Marblemount Boat Launch

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More Cancellations

December 27 and 28: Cancelled
January 3 and 4: Cancelled Still On

Hi Eagle Watchers! Unless you are away on a tropical vacation, you are experiencing lots of snow and cold temperatures at home so you will not be surprised by this announcement. Greta visited our sites this morning and recommended we cancel the next two weekends to give things a chance to melt out. The highways are fine for driving but the problem is accessing and using the sites themselves. Rumor is, the eagles are still plentiful so feel free to go upriver and enjoy the beautiful snow. Take pictures for me! I will be in California all next week, returning Friday afternoon, the 2nd. I will consider opening things back up for the third and fourth if people REALLY want to do it. You can contact me through comments here or at my office phone (360) 856-5700, ext 246
Happy New Year!
-Tanya

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Sunday Float Trip Cancelled

It’s official: no float trip on Sunday. I’m glad I can post to the blog and email you all from my home computer since I have not been able to make it to the office the past couple days.

Blue Sky is still open to taking people out but I’m not sure how much of the winter I want to spend coordinating this. For those folks who strongly want to go, let me know and I’ll try to get you out there.

In other bad news: there was no Wednesday eagle count this week. The roads were a bit too slippery to get around on.

In good news, it’s been fun family time skiing and sledding around the neighborhood and warming up with hot drinks in front of the fire. See everyone soon.

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Weekend of December 13 and 14

Saturday was great, not too cold or windy, and eagles plentiful. Sunday we cancelled. Out of 9 scheduled volunteers, only ONE made it to Rockport this morning! Thanks everyone for the messages you left. If you all couldn’t make it, it’s unlikely we would have had many visitors stopping by the sites. Rockport was sunny and beautiful this morning, with about 1 inch of snow and temperature in the low 20’s. Too bad I left my camera in Sedro-Woolley! Lets hope for better driving conditions next time (December 27 and 28.)

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Fun Weather Link

I put a link to UW Meteorologist Cliff Mass’s weather blog on the left hand side of our page. It’s a fun site if you are interested in weather discussions for the Puget Sound area. You may have heard Cliff on KUOW, where he is a frequent guest.

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Snow Expected For First Weekend!

A snowy day at Milepost 100 last season

First of all I want to say I really enjoyed our training weekend. It was great to see everyone again and meet the first timers.

Looks like we are going to have snow and below freezing temperatures for our first eagle watching weekend. I put up a link to the National Weather Service Forecast over there on the left so those of you who are scheduled can keep track as the storms come through. The sites will be open, and I will be there at Howard Miller Park Saturday at 9:30. Take your time driving up and be careful. If conditions are such that you can’t make it, leave me a message at (360)856-5700, Ext 246. I’m also updating the hotline at Ext 104. Of course by the time I am up there and able to report on-the-ground conditions, you’ll be there too. I am posting this from home and will not be in the office until late Wednesday afternoon. I will try to get the schedule and substitute list posted by the end of the week. If you sent me an email I will not be able to respond until that time.

Tanya

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First Skagit Eagle Count of 2008

The numbers are in from today’s eagle count, and the season is starting with a bang, with WAY more birds than this week last year. Sarah and I counted 76 eagles between Rockport and Sedro-Woolley, and saw 3 definite fish carcasses being eaten. Last year, in comparison, the same stretch of river hosted 14 birds. Here are all the numbers:

December 3, 2008

Newhalem to Marblemount (Counted by National Park Service): 22

Marblemount to Rockport (Counted by The Nature Conservancy): 135

Rockport to Sedro-Woolley (Counted by the Forest Service): 76

Total: 233

I’ll see you all this weekend at training. BRING RAINGEAR!!

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