[Tweeters] Dates for Samish SEOW?

[Mike Wagenbach via Tweeters]

I'm not certain that transient flooding of the fields would have been
crippling to the population of prey animals.  I base this guess on a time
when I was kayaking with a group in the Stillaguamish River delta on a day
with a "spring" tide: a very low tide in late morning and a very high tide
in early evening.  As we were about to start back south to Kayak Point Park
to finish the day, we stopped on a salt-marsh island northeast of the
village of Warm Beach.  As we sat on a rotting drift log, it became
apparent that the tide was actually over-topping the island and water was
infiltrating the low vegetation.   The first sign of this was that several
voles appeared, scrambled up the sides of the log, and disappeared into
cracks and holes in the wood.  A few minutes later, as we prepared to leave
I found that one had hopped into the cockpit of my boat, from which it
would have found it hard to escape due to the slippery plastic.  I was able
to scoop it out and it also scampered across the vegetation and on the log
refuge.  I think it was probably Microtus townsendii, but I wouldn't bet
much on that.

My point is that the animals may be more capable of dealing with a brief
flooding event than might be expected from their small size.  Admittedly,
tidal flooding is only going to be for a few hours, and only during the
highest tides which occur only three or four days per month.  Flooding of
the fields during the heavy rains would have been of longer duration.  But
these animals are likely to have experience with this (evolutionarily, if
not personally) and may have strategies for escaping to higher ground
and/or vegetation.  I'm sure this would be a profound stress, but maybe not
a true hecatombe.

I don't have any expertise in the ecology of rodents, so if this is your
specialty, correct me.

Mike Wagenbach
Seattle

On Tue, Feb 10, 2026 at 7:50 AM Zora Monster <zoramon at mac.com> wrote:


> I haven’t visited this year, but with all of the flooding in December I

> would not expect to find them. They eat mostly mice and voles. The floods

> most likely decimated their food source.

>

> Normally you’d expect to see them this time of the year.

>

> Zora Dermer

> Seattle

>

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