Camano Island

Joe Meche is president of the North Cascades Audubon Society and also serves the chapter as newsletter editor and birding programs coordinator. He has been watching birds for more than 50 years and photographing birds and landscapes for more than 30 years.

The Wisconsin Glacial Episode of approximately 20,000 years ago was the last major advance of glaciers on the North American continent. Many familiar geological and geographical features are the direct result of the grinding and scouring action of glacial ice and the subsequent pooling of melt water across the continent, in places ranging from Long Island to the Great Lakes and across Montana and Washington. The varied topography of our own Puget Sound is living proof of the forces of nature.

Puget Sound is a very large estuary with numerous rivers flowing into saltwater from the mainland and from the Olympic Peninsula. Along its north-south course, the sound is interspersed with many islands and deep water channels with significant tidal surges.

The formation of this unique part of Washington state is a direct result of part of the late Wisconsin Glaciation period known as the Fraser Glaciation, during which the Cordilleran ice sheet advanced southward from sources in what is now British Columbia. The advance and subsequent retreat of this massive ice sheet left behind a visual legacy that is a jewel in the crown of the Pacific Northwest.

From Olympia to the San Juan Islands, familiar place names are often a part of regional conversations and concerns. Everyone is familiar with the names of the major landforms of the sound and the islands of the San Juan Archipelago; the popular destinations on Whidbey Island; and the more populated Kitsap Peninsula. Smaller islands and peninsulas are scattered throughout the greater Puget Sound region and some are barely visited at all.

Just a short distance south of Bellingham and tucked between Whidbey Island and the mainland is a place that offers an easy escape from the normal day-to-day life along the I-5 corridor. Take the Stanwood exit off the interstate and drive west through town. After you cross the bridge over the Davis Slough — part of the Stillaguamish River delta — you have arrived on Camano Island. Though not as well-known and frequently visited as its larger neighbor to the west, the pace of Camano makes it a pleasing destination for residents and visitors alike.

Camano Island is separated from Whidbey on the west by Saratoga Passage. The island tapers southward toward Everett and is separated from the mainland on the east by Port Susan Bay. Camano was named for the Spanish explorer Jacinto Caamaño, one of the least known explorers of the B.C. coast; and Saratoga Passage was named after the flagship of Thomas MacDonough after his victory in the Battle of Lake Champlain during the war of 1812.

For thousands of years before early exploration and settlement by whites, four separate bands of Northwest Indians were the sole inhabitants of the islands throughout the region. Life was quiet in the islands, except for periodic tribal skirmishes. When whites arrived in the late 1700s and early 1800s, they brought with them diseases that decimated the populations of the local tribes. Needless to say, history lives on Camano Island.

For those interested in more than a day trip, look into the bed and breakfast inns on the island, including the Camano Island Inn. If you’re more in the mood for camping, Camano Island State Park has numerous tent and RV sites and a large group campsite. To sample another bit of island history, stay in one of the rustic cabins at Cama Beach State Park. Cama Beach was once a family-owned fishing resort dating back to the 1930s, and after 18 years of negotiating, the land and all the cabins have become a unique state park.

One thing that adds to the park’s appeal and its spectacular setting on Saratoga Passage is the fact that personal motor vehicles are not allowed. You must park in designated parking areas well-removed from the beachfront and take the shuttle bus to your cabin. A woodland trail connects Cama Beach to Camano Island State Park and provides an opportunity to travel through a variety of habitats. The expanse of beach access on the west side of Camano has something for everyone.

When you go, be sure to take along binoculars for birding and a camera to capture a few unforgettable views of Mount Baker on clear days. Since the island narrows considerably as you travel south, you will find numerous opportunities to search for resident and wintering species. On the north end of the island, you might have an opportunity to view large flocks of swans and thousands of snow geese that frequent Skagit Bay when they’re not foraging in the nearby fields.

Speaking of snow geese and birding in general, be sure to mark your calendar for the 5th Annual Port Susan Snow Goose Festival, slated for Feb. 20-21. Sponsored in part by the Pilchuck Audubon Society, this relatively new birding festival offers a variety of activities and events, including field trips to a number of birding hotspots in the area and a big pancake feed to get you started for a full day of birding. For more info, visit the festival Web site at www.snowgoosefest.org. Be sure to pick up a brochure that will guide you to the best places to see birds and tell you what you might see when you get there.

Many of the good birding locations on the island are the result of caring, conservation-minded organizations like the Whidbey Camano Land Trust (WCLT). The WCLT was founded in 1984 as an effort to preserve the natural and rural heritage of the islands.

One of the WCLT’s efforts to protect coastal wetlands and wildlife habitat is the 31-acre Davis Slough Heronry, which is home to more than 600 great blue herons. While the heronry itself is closed to the public, the resident herons can be seen foraging in the rich estuarine environment of Skagit Bay to the north and Port Susan Bay to the south.

On our recent visit to usher in the new year and a new decade, we stayed in one of the cabins at the Cama Beach State Park. Much to our delight, we were buffeted by strong southwest winds until the last day. Bird numbers were low and the choppy water made viewing difficult, but we found birds on hikes away from the open water and had lots of time to read and relax.

We observed belted kingfishers and ducks riding out the wind at Cranberry Lake. Along the trail to the lake were typical passerine species such as black-capped chickadees, song sparrows, spotted towhees and ruby-crowned kinglets. We also found evidence of busy sapsuckers and pileated woodpeckers.

As we awoke on our last morning, the waters of Saratoga Passage were perfectly calm and alive with horned grebes, common loons, pigeon guillemots, and common and Barrow’s goldeneyes. Numerous gulls and crows were also on hand, as expected.

If you plan to visit Camano Island for just a day or even a few nights, the two state parks on the west side of the island are perfectly situated to serve as a base of operations. If you’d prefer not to rough it, try the B&Bs on the island. Either way, you’ll always be close enough to home in case you forgot to feed the cat. §