River deltas a busy stop for thousands of shorebirds

STANWOOD — From a spot along Port Susan, they first appear as a wispy cloud over the salt marshes and mudflats at high tide.

The dunlins shimmer as they swoop and twirl in a flock of thousands, their white bellies flashing in a thin beam of sunshine on a February morning.

Dunlins are sandpiper-like shorebirds, some of the many species that depend on the food and safety of 90,000 acres of wetlands in the side-by-side Stillaguamish and Skagit river deltas.

Arlington’s Ruth Milner, a 26-year wildlife biologist for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, has spent 10 years taking aerial counts of the shorebirds and studying how they rely on the important ecology and habitat of Port Susan and Skagit bays.

The silvery flocks of dunlins can be seen skimming across the water primarily when the tide is in, she said. Peregrine falcons, once an endangered species, have returned to the bays to hunt the shorebirds.

“Dunlins walk, they don’t swim, so at high tide, they do a lot of flying,” Milner said. “The falcons hide behind the dikes and make easy prey of those who feed nearby. So the shorebirds fly back and forth for hours until they can land to feed again in the open mudflats where a falcon can be seen coming.”

Milner’s work, along with that of dozens of volunteers, is to be honored Saturday at a celebration during the eighth annual Port Susan Snow Goose and Birding Festival.

The big deal is that Milner gathered data showing that nearly 80,000 shorebirds winter here each year, a number that resulted in the recent designation of the deltas as a “Site of Regional Importance” in the Western Hemispheric Shorebird Reserve Network.

“Some people have no idea how big this is,” Milner said. “It’s a little difficult to wrap your mind around it.”

The network, well-known among bird-watching enthusiasts, lists 87 such sites in 13 countries from Alaska in the U.S. to Argentina. The three closest to the Stanwood area site — the only one on Washington’s inland waters — are the Fraser River estuary in British Columbia, Grays Harbor and the Columbia River estuary, all on the Pacific Flyway bird migration path.

Milner grew up playing with frogs in the woods, watching shorebirds on the ocean and simply loving wildlife. She became especially interested in the local shorebirds after meeting Rob Butler, a world-renowned expert on shorebird conservation at Simon Fraser University in B.C. It was then that she set out to prove that Port Susan and Skagit bays were an important stop on the Pacific Flyway.

Butler, along with Western Hemispheric Shorebird Reserve Network Director Charles Duncan from Maine, plans to speak at Saturday’s celebration.

“Our hats are off to Ruth Milner,” Duncan said.

Duncan said he is looking forward to working with estuary land owners in Snohomish, Island and Skagit counties to conserve and protect the river deltas for the birds.

Partners in the designation include tideland property owners such as state Fish and Wildlife, Island County Parks, The Nature Conservancy, Warm Beach Conference Center, Whidbey-Camano Land Trust, farmland owner Stuart Lervick and other private beach owners.

Pilchuck Audubon Society volunteers helped count and identify the shorebirds over several seasons, spending days at spots on Leque Island, at Big Ditch on the Skagit Bay and along Warm Beach. Support also came from Boeing, the Ecostudies Institute, the U.S. Forest Service and the Pacific Coast Joint Venture.

“The Stilly and Skagit bays are rich, rich, rich with birds,” Milner said. “The Port Susan birding festival (this weekend) is a great time to watch for shorebirds as well as swans, snow geese, herons and a variety of raptors.”

She gazes out to the bay on this morning, following the dunlin flock.

“Looking for these flocks of shorebirds can be a bit like chasing tornadoes,” Milner said. “But when you see them in the sunshine against a gray sky, it’s such a thrill.”

Celebration today

The Stillaguamish and Skagit river deltas have been designated as important for shorebirds. A celebration is set for 4:30 to 8 p.m. Saturday at the Four Springs Lake Preserve on Camano Island with international shorebird experts speaking. Cost is $17, which includes food and drink. Ticket info: www.snowgoosefest.org/wshrn_celebration. It is part of the Port Susan Snow Goose and Birding Festival, headquartered at 27130 102nd Ave. NW, Stanwood.

Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com.

View Bays in a larger map

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Alex Hanson looks over sections of the Herald and sets the ink on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Black Press, publisher of Everett’s Daily Herald, is sold

The new owners include two Canadian private investment firms and a media company based in the southern United States.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.