Tweeters,
Sorry this is a bit late given that I have Tweeters in digest
and only accessible at school.
I visited Nisqually NWR on Sunday, Feb 4, arriving late enough for
the overnight ice to be melting off the trees and shrubs in the early
sunbreaks.
A couple of highlights: an adult red-tail calling and diving on a
preening peregrine in a cottonwood overlooking the river 200yds S of the
Ring Dike trail, the peregrine flying swiftly south down the river's edge and the
red-tail landing high in a tree to give itself a congratulatory shoulder
preen.
A short-eared owl chasing (or perhaps just flying fast behind) a
merlin by Shannon Slough, the owl breaking off, circling slowly upwards
on long, slow wingbeats, then drifting down into the shrubs again.
But best of all was not the raptors, but the raptor food: a
wonderful Audubon's yellow-rumped warbler perched momentarily on the
boardwalk between the main trail and the Twin Barns, then disappearing
into the shrubbery.
Anybody else seeing signs of Spring, or are some yellow-rumps
over-wintering?


Brian Price pricebc at elwha.evergreen.edu
L3401B Phone: (360)-866-6000, ext.6743
TESC
Olympia
WA98505