7:45 AM – 5:00 PM

In-Person Class: Mobile Sketching Across the Skagit and Samish Flats with Carleen O. Zimmerman

REGISTER https://secure.birdsconnectsea.org/a/mobilesketching2026 Field sketching is not scientific illustration but rather a way to create visual memories of birding habitats where we might see or hear birds. Often your best birding adventures happen when you aren't looking with your binoculars. First stop will be the Skagit Wildlife Area Headquarters Unit (Wylie Slough) by 9am. At this stop: bathroom vault toilets, habitat sketching, quick General Impression of Size and Shape (GISS) sketching waterfowl, raptors, herons, or hunters. Second stop will be Snow Goose Produce on Fir Island Road by 10:30am. They close for the season after the first weekend in October, but the parking lot is large. No shelter if weather is inclement. The surrounding fields and buildings may provide an opportunity for those interested in urban sketching. “Inktober” is a yearly October event with sketch prompts. Here is a link HOW TO INK — Inktober https://inktober.com/how-to-ink . Third stop will be Padilla Bay open picnic shelter by noon on Bayview Edison Road across from Bay View State Park. At this stop: lunch, portable toilet, watercolor techniques with waterbrush, habitat and sea bird sketching. We then continue north to our final stop by 2pm on Bayview Edison Road, taking a left on Samish Island Road (aka “the Samish T”). We will park at Skagit Wildlife Area (Samish Unit, aka “West 90”) by 2pm. No shelter if weather is inclement. Expect birders and hunters. Final “pit stop” at a hopefully adequate portable toilet. We will then drive back east along the Samish Island Road past the “East 90” and slowly through the quaint town of Edison. We will continue along Bow Hill Road to join southbound I-5. We should return to Green Lake P&R no later than 5pm. Expect cold, rainy, windy weather. We will not stop at coffee stands, so please pack what you'll need for the day. This is an accessible class trip with minimal walking. Bring: A packed lunch (maybe warm soup?), water/drinks, a thermos of tea/coffee/cocoa, warm layers including hat and gloves and rain gear, and minimal portable sketch supplies (sketch book, pen, ink pen, and a portable palette and waterbrush if you watercolor). Carleen will have extra waterbrushes and a portable palette to share.