>Slow down! "Hunting falcons" didn't mean falconers' falcons to me. Don's
>right: peregrines and merlins are so frequent at Bowerman, people watching
>shorebirds for any length of time would have a good chance of seeing one (or
>two, or five).
>Lemme say I don't have this straight from the source, but I doubt there will
>be intentional releases of falcons to stir things up during the shorebird
>festival. Please be careful not to let this rumor become a game of
>"Telephone" with serious consequences.
>------------------------
>Scott Richardson

Ditto here. Calm down, Stuart. I didn't read into what Tom wrote that
someone would be flying falcons down there, and, to my knowledge, that's
never happened at the Shorebird Festival. There's always merlin and
peregrine activity (well, except when someone *really* wants to see one),
and often Cooper's hawks out there after all the sandpiper flesh as well.
Not that I like it when a falcon chases all the shorebirds away, but I
think it's very much a natural process. I don't think anything that humans
have done makes it any different. The major difference is yet to come,
perhaps, as peregrines become increasingly common!

Dennis Paulson phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416