A Trip to Skagit County

We had the most marvelous day today. There's a lot of water and cornfield and marshy land up north, in Skagit County, and the wild birds travel to get here in February. Even swans were lying down out in fields, and thousands and thousands of white snow geese with black on their wings -- Bill says they fly down from Alaska to winter here where it was only 14 degrees last night. The sun was brilliant and the temperature was thirty, by two in the afternoon.

We saw a kestrel, who posed politely on a telegraph wire so that I could practice with my binoculars. Really, I can probably manage better without them. But with binoculars, Bill can stand around looking at a cornfield with a short-eared owl flying round it, very low, looking for mice to eat I guess, and he murmurs "What a lovely face" when he sees that owl's face. And we saw an eagle, likewise, sitting happily on a green lawn, with a juvenile keeping it company. Looking at all these gorgeous fellas -- and having them sit down and stay in view! -- utterly beautiful.