La Conner, Washington

We soaked up La Conner, Washington where we stayed during the month of February. La Conner is not usually as sleepy as it is now. Since COVID there are less tourists around and the streets are quiet. The state has just opened up a bit more so the restaurants are starting to be busy again……still not tempted to go into a restaurant at this point.

Below I am riding an Eagle/cycle outside a great Antique shop, a favorite Window Shopping stop. Folks are friendly and they recognize us as being from out of town and ask us questions.

Found a Salmon to slide down in La Conner!
Look VERY carefully at this Pirate’s sword!
The biggest news here in La Conner is the foot of snow that we got this month! This town has one snow plough on the front of a pick up truck that we could see, so everything here really stopped for a couple of days! One of the streets became a sledding hill, and folks were walking to the grocery store with their sleds. During the snow storm the Anna’s humming birds still visited the feeders.

The snow melted quickly, and we are back to the green of the Pacific Northwest.

One day, we were in a State Forest looking for bugs on a trail, and a man was watching Mark intently. He finally asked him what he was doing. Mark gave his “elevator pitch” about the project and the man turned to me and said “WOW, he doesn’t look that interesting, but he actually is, eh?” …… yep he is indeed……….

: )

On our Field Work Days, we drive around the area looking for infested Hemlock trees. We have several sites that we visit and collect from, then send the branches with the bugs on them back to the labs in Ithaca. Sometimes collecting happens on the side of really busy roads, so we got Swag to protect us!

Perhaps the most exciting part of La Conner is that it is in the Skagit Valley which is home to such an abundant bird population! I’ve been keeping a journal and trying to add a page every day of some new species of bird, plant, tree, mammal….It’s a challenge for me to have a strict practice like this, but my friend Hazel has been keeping me honest and holding me accountable! I check in with her each week about what i’ve added to this journal.

Normally, our Ferry rides to the islands are spent up on the deck watching the ocean, but during COVID we are staying in our cars… *sigh* Luckily we’ve had a couple of good “window seats” for our rides.

For the other Birders reading this, here is what we’ve seen so far!
– Green Winged Teal
– Loon
– Golden Eye
– Buffle Head
– Surf Scoter
– Pigeon Guillemot
– Western Grebe
– Herring Gull
– Bald Eagles – “thick like mosquitos”
– Anna hummingbirds
– Hooded Merganser
– Northern Pintail
-Brandt (goose)
– Harlequin (duck)

My journal waiting to be written in!

A final sunset from La Conner….wonder what is around the bend……

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