location: Bellingham, WA; Squalicum Harbor area;
Marina restaurant (where I work part time).
The restaurant is located at the end of an extensive
fill area. Trees are absent, except for some bare
saplings (ornamentals).
time & date: 10 p.m., Friday, Dec. 8 `95.
weather: dry, sub-freezing temps. (prior to wet, warm front).

I went out to warm up my old car. After sitting there a few minutes, I
turned my head in time to see a chunky bird flying right past my parked car.
It was a mottled brown and whitish, as lit by a parking lot light. It
had white markings on the face and forward-pointing eyes. The bird
seemed to have a white, smiling mouth, with the bill as a nose---
a fleeting impression. It then flew on toward the brightly lit
restaurant entrance, an oasis of light. There, it circled around once,
even as people were coming out of the restaurant only yards away. It
then flew between the dumpster rack and the building, where it slowed
down, almost hovering with shallow, bat-like wingbeats not more than 3
feet off the ground. (There are some shrubbery and small rocks back
there). It then disappeared into the darkness.

This owl was never over 5 or 6 feet off the ground the whole time it was
in view. Most of the time it was backlit, so I could not see its color
pattern. It had a relatively large head, and no ear tufts that I could
see. The wingspan was somewhere around 1 1/2 feet, and probably a tad
less. A feathered moth!

p.s.
The only reasonable other possibility would be a W. Screech Owl.
Screech Owls are resident in various wooded areas around Bellingham (see
Terry Wahl`s new book: "Birds of Whatcom County" regarding the status of
the two species). But the "jizz" of my bird was not the same (I've seen
W. Screech owls in flight while I was stationed in Arizona many years ago).

p.p.s.
Less than a year ago, a Barred Owl crashed into a large window of this
very same restaurant, but on the opposite side. That owl required a long
period of rehabilitation. (I missed that event).

Phil Hotlen <n8540420 at henson.cc.wwu.edu>
Bellingham, WA