Snowy Owl at Sandy Point

382 views
Skip to first unread message

Mary Chamberlin

unread,
Dec 4, 2021, 12:15:21 PM12/4/21
to whatco...@northcascadesaudubon.org
A sure sign that winter is on its way...
Yesterday my neighbors said there was a snowy owl sitting on a log off their deck on the south side of the point. This morning I walked to the end of the point and the owl was sitting on driftwood across the channel.  I apologize for the graininess of the picture. It was raining and I had my little Sony Cybershot on full zoom. 

Virus-free. www.avast.com
DSC01403.JPG
DSC01402.JPG
DSC01397.JPG

Eric Ellingson

unread,
Dec 4, 2021, 6:02:29 PM12/4/21
to Whatcom Birds, krummerfahrer
The Snowy continues in the same spot across the channel. A local said it had been there for a week & a half.  Eric Ellingson

_L9A2257-Edit.jpg_L9A2279-Edit.jpg_L9A2253-Edit.jpg

Pauline Sterin

unread,
Dec 4, 2021, 7:19:55 PM12/4/21
to Eric Ellingson, Whatcom Birds, krummerfahrer
Great pics, Eric. Thanks for sharing them.

Pauline Sterin

On Dec 4, 2021, at 3:02 PM, Eric Ellingson <esell...@gmail.com> wrote:

The Snowy continues in the same spot across the channel. A local said it had been there for a week & a half.  Eric Ellingson
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Whatcom Birds" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to whatcom-bird...@northcascadesaudubon.org.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/a/northcascadesaudubon.org/d/msgid/whatcom-birds/cc5bab6f-7c2e-4eea-8eb2-7dda236ba6c5n%40northcascadesaudubon.org.

Barry Ulman

unread,
Dec 5, 2021, 2:56:50 AM12/5/21
to Eric Ellingson, Whatcom Birds, krummerfahrer
The plumage on the front side (underside) of the bird looks a little strange. I’ve never seen plumage on a Snowy Owl like that.

Barry Ulman


On Dec 4, 2021, at 3:02 PM, Eric Ellingson <esell...@gmail.com> wrote:

The Snowy continues in the same spot across the channel. A local said it had been there for a week & a half.  Eric Ellingson

<_L9A2257-Edit.jpg><_L9A2279-Edit.jpg><_L9A2253-Edit.jpg>
On Saturday, December 4, 2021 at 9:15:21 AM UTC-8 krummerfahrer wrote:
A sure sign that winter is on its way...
Yesterday my neighbors said there was a snowy owl sitting on a log off their deck on the south side of the point. This morning I walked to the end of the point and the owl was sitting on driftwood across the channel.  I apologize for the graininess of the picture. It was raining and I had my little Sony Cybershot on full zoom. 

Virus-free. www.avast.com

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Whatcom Birds" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to whatcom-bird...@northcascadesaudubon.org.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/a/northcascadesaudubon.org/d/msgid/whatcom-birds/cc5bab6f-7c2e-4eea-8eb2-7dda236ba6c5n%40northcascadesaudubon.org.
<_L9A2253-Edit.jpg><_L9A2279-Edit.jpg><_L9A2257-Edit.jpg>

Joe Meche

unread,
Dec 6, 2021, 11:57:58 AM12/6/21
to Barry Ulman, Whatcom Birds
What's the parking situation at Sandy Point these days?

Curious Joe

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/a/northcascadesaudubon.org/d/msgid/whatcom-birds/6BB7BAA2-2A6B-4DD8-B291-50306E9A9A90%40gmail.com.

Mary Chamberlin

unread,
Dec 6, 2021, 12:25:59 PM12/6/21
to Joe Meche, Barry Ulman, Whatcom Birds
As far as I know, this continues to be OK: You drive down Saltspring and ignore the "private road" sign as you approach the end of the road. The parking area will be on your right. Just make sure you park west of the line of rocks in the parking area.

Happy owling!

Mary

Mary Chamberlin
Ferndale, WA

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/a/northcascadesaudubon.org/d/msgid/whatcom-birds/CAOPW3DHxxV-6TrGB9h0nD9Y5_P%2BZLCcUUT_cZU4JNe_j8fO6nQ%40mail.gmail.com.

John Egbert

unread,
Dec 6, 2021, 3:12:11 PM12/6/21
to Mary Chamberlin, Joe Meche, Barry Ulman, Whatcom Birds
Was there yesterday  am.    Parking is easy.    Maybe a dozen people with long lenses,
 tripods, binos.   The owl is wise standing, preening, and alone below a chaotic pile of logs across the water.     No one who lives over there  was out and about bothering it.      Interesting how the recent storms and tides give some protection with logjams, etc.  

From a conservation standpoint, Sandy Point area should have been a wildlife refuge. I apologize if you live there, but  lots to enjoy!    Then again, my house should be in a forest.    Anyway, the point proper is unregulated except for the private sign which suggests it could be developed.    Who owns the point and would it be worth lobbying for its protection?  Perhaps the conservation leadership  of local Audubon knows.

 I saw survey stakes at the base of it     What's next?   Obviously it's a place where a house(s) or a building would be subject to flooding   Maybe it's been zoned out?   

Also, a small flock of black turnstones and skittish dunlins were working the point. 

Thank you all for sharing. 


John E   

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/a/northcascadesaudubon.org/d/msgid/whatcom-birds/CAB%3DR%2BYdPZqD2iG54Ykj_uhhdnxwr_VhgD7%3DMQhWJ_nzks2idcQ%40mail.gmail.com.

Clement Stevens

unread,
Dec 6, 2021, 3:28:56 PM12/6/21
to John Egbert, Mary Chamberlin, Joe Meche, Barry Ulman, Whatcom Birds

On Dec 6, 2021, at 12:12 PM, John Egbert <egbert...@gmail.com> wrote:



Robert Kaye

unread,
Dec 6, 2021, 4:20:22 PM12/6/21
to Clement Stevens, John Egbert, Mary Chamberlin, Joe Meche, Barry Ulman, Whatcom Birds
Hey John, 

I am the Chair of the North  Cascades Audubon Society Conservation Committee. 

The property you were on has a very very long and twisted story attached to it going back decades. At one point years ago lots of houses were proposed. 

About two years or a bit more ago, NCAS along with the Cherry Point Citizens Stewardship Advisory Committee and the state Department of Ecology and the Lummi Nation had objected to a scaled down proposed project of 7 houses, all on mounded septic systems. 

Now, after a couple of rounds with the Whatcom  County Hearing Examiner the latest  outcome (NCAS did not agree to it but we had no say as it’s all private land) is that up to 7 homes can be built on the eastern half of the peninsula but only after the Lummis extend their sanitary sewer line to serve the homes (instead of the septic systems previously authorized by the County).

In exchange for extending the sewer line the Lummi Nation will take back full ownership of the western half of the open land which includes most of the shoreline which cannot be developed. 

However, there will a road extension, likely no parking, and eventually there will be no legal right for general public access (technically there is no such legal right now, but Liberty Mutual Insurance the property owner for the last several years never restricted public access in any material way, or at all really. So, as a practical matter it’s been open to the public for many decades,  but with no documented easement or formal legal right of access). 

Hope that helps explain things a little.  I viewed the owl on Saturday!  So beautiful. 

Robert Kaye

Sent from my iPhone

On Dec 6, 2021, at 12:29 PM, Clement Stevens <clem...@gmail.com> wrote:


<image.jpg>

Pauline Sterin

unread,
Dec 6, 2021, 4:20:35 PM12/6/21
to Clement Stevens, John Egbert, Mary Chamberlin, Joe Meche, Barry Ulman, Whatcom Birds
How beautiful! Thank you for sharing your photo.

Pauline Sterin

On Dec 6, 2021, at 12:28 PM, Clement Stevens <clem...@gmail.com> wrote:



Martha Dyck

unread,
Dec 6, 2021, 5:09:10 PM12/6/21
to Pauline Sterin, Barry Ulman, Clement Stevens, Joe Meche, John Egbert, Mary Chamberlin, Whatcom Birds
Just curious if anyone has info on snowys along the Boundary Bay Trail north of White Rock, where there were a great deal of them a no. of years ago.  Don’t hear much from Canada.
Martha Dyck

Fredrick Sears

unread,
Dec 6, 2021, 9:19:36 PM12/6/21
to Robert Kaye, Clement Stevens, John Egbert, Mary Chamberlin, Joe Meche, Barry Ulman, Whatcom Birds
I would re-enforce this note Perron North Cascades a Audubon society has been arguing for decades to take these very temporary landscapes out of private property and into a public good. The lobbies have had a different argument about water rates.

I wouldn’t courage the contemporary North Cascades Audubon society to hold that line.

It’s interesting that and insurance company holds the property right.


Fredrick Sears

On Dec 6, 2021, at 1:20 PM, Robert Kaye <rk...@northcascadesaudubon.org> wrote:

Hey John, 

darcie

unread,
Dec 6, 2021, 10:19:16 PM12/6/21
to Fredrick Sears, Robert Kaye, Clement Stevens, John Egbert, Mary Chamberlin, Joe Meche, Barry Ulman, Whatcom Birds
gorgeous animal, thanks for sharing the photo & also for the history of conservation attempts out there

Sent from my iPad

On Dec 6, 2021, at 6:19 PM, Fredrick Sears <frsp...@gmail.com> wrote:



Joe Meche

unread,
Dec 6, 2021, 10:44:10 PM12/6/21
to Martha Dyck, Whatcom Birds
Last I heard from my BC connection was that 3 had been observed at Boundary Bay and 1 at Iona.
That was early last week so I'm not sure of the status today.

Joe

Barry Ulman

unread,
Dec 7, 2021, 1:37:28 AM12/7/21
to Robert Kaye, Clement Stevens, John Egbert, Mary Chamberlin, Joe Meche, Whatcom Birds
Long ago I encouraged the Whatcom Land Trust to purchase the end of Sandy Point but they showed no interest.

Barry Ulman


On Dec 6, 2021, at 1:20 PM, Robert Kaye <rk...@northcascadesaudubon.org> wrote:

Annie Huang

unread,
Dec 10, 2021, 3:12:39 PM12/10/21
to Whatcom Birds, barryu...@gmail.com, clem...@gmail.com, JEgbert, krummerfahrer, joeb...@gmail.com, Whatcom Birds, Robert Kaye
_E2A6985-Edit_Horned_Grebe[1].jpg_E2A6863-Edit_Yellow-billed_Loon[1].jpg_E2A6837-Edit_Red-brested_Merganser_Male[1].jpgWell, I went Wednesday and Thursday when it was sunny. No sign of the snowy owl. 

BTW, since I was there waiting for the owl and saw lots of shorebirds. Though I have trouble identifying the first bird. A Horned Grebe? 


_E2A7071-Edit[1].jpg

Mary Francell-Sharfstein

unread,
Dec 10, 2021, 3:38:58 PM12/10/21
to Annie Huang, Whatcom Birds, barryu...@gmail.com, clem...@gmail.com, JEgbert, krummerfahrer, joeb...@gmail.com, Robert Kaye
Looks more like a Western grebe to me.

Mary

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Whatcom Birds" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to whatcom-bird...@northcascadesaudubon.org.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/a/northcascadesaudubon.org/d/msgid/whatcom-birds/c1a5f624-0f10-4ec0-9fa1-3777e2e0df07n%40northcascadesaudubon.org.


--
Mary Francell-Sharfstein
(she/her/hers)
"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant." 
Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Barry Ulman

unread,
Dec 10, 2021, 4:31:13 PM12/10/21
to Mary Francell-Sharfstein, Annie Huang, Whatcom Birds, clem...@gmail.com, JEgbert, krummerfahrer, joeb...@gmail.com, Robert Kaye
I would say it is a Horned Grebe. Smaller, shorter neck, not so contrasty above and below.

Barry Ulman


On Dec 10, 2021, at 12:38 PM, Mary Francell-Sharfstein <mary...@gmail.com> wrote:

Looks more like a Western grebe to me.

Mary

On Fri, Dec 10, 2021 at 12:12 PM Annie Huang <anniehu...@gmail.com> wrote:
<_E2A6985-Edit_Horned_Grebe[1].jpg><_E2A6863-Edit_Yellow-billed_Loon[1].jpg><_E2A6837-Edit_Red-brested_Merganser_Male[1].jpg>Well, I went Wednesday and Thursday when it was sunny. No sign of the snowy owl. 

BTW, since I was there waiting for the owl and saw lots of shorebirds. Though I have trouble identifying the first bird. A Horned Grebe? 


Patrice Clark

unread,
Dec 11, 2021, 3:08:24 PM12/11/21
to Barry Ulman, Mary Francell-Sharfstein, Annie Huang, Whatcom Birds, clem...@gmail.com, JEgbert, krummerfahrer, joeb...@gmail.com, Robert Kaye
Hi all

Well I'm certainly no expert but I agree with Barry. I'm looking at the Sibley app on my phone, 
and the horned grebe looks just like the first photo that Annie took:
with a shorter neck and the white extending back further than a western grebe.

Patrice Clark

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/a/northcascadesaudubon.org/d/msgid/whatcom-birds/4EBE26E8-D58D-4916-9F55-3F7DC929E1DE%40gmail.com.
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages