Did this get through earlier? I got strange notifications from the
mail server on my end. Apologies if this is a repost.

There was a falcon at Marymoor Park this morning (I watched it from
about 9:45 - 10:15), and I need help with identification. It seemed
crow sized, or the size of a largish Cooper's Hawk. It was an
immature, and the basic tone of the coloration matched that of the
large upper branches of the Cottonwoods it was sitting in. It had a
dark unmarked back, while the entire front was streaked like a house
finch. The tail had narrow indistinct barring on the underside. The
chin was pale to white. The eye was dark. There was a faint eye
stripe which gave the head the same sort of squarish look as a Cooper's
Hawk. There was a dark facial mark that was large and noticable, but
not particularly sharp-edged. I believe the feet were yellow. When
sitting, the tail was not over-long.

When taking off, it fanned its tail, and it appeared quite rounded. In
flight, of course, the tail was folded narrow. The wing-tips were
noticably pointed and the tips of the underside of the primaries were dark.

I saw it fly three times. The first time, it appeared to be hunting
birds - flying low over the bushes, and making short swoops at slow
birds. It's flight was purposeful and direct, but not incredibly
speedy with wing-beats about 2/sec.. The other two times, it flew out
and harrassed a Northern Harrier. The falcon was noticably smaller
than the Harrier; perhaps 2/3rds the size and bulk.

Any ideas?

== Michael Hobbs
== Redmond WA
== mikeho at microsoft.com