Subject: raptor rapture
Date: Oct 12 16:57:00 1996
From: fredbird - fredbird


Paying attention...

While certainly not exotic, two recent raptor observations reminded
me of the pleasure of paying attention to whats important --
looking up instead of down and ignoring the potential potholes
awaiting my feet or car:

Item #1

Thursday, Oct. 10: Hearing the familiar screech of parakeets over my
house, I ran outside to count the brethren -- Ive yet to see more
than seven. I was in time to watch as the parakeets and a Red-tailed
Hawk approached one another at a 90 degree angle, traveling lickity
split. They got within about 20 feet of each other, and as if coming
to a simultaneously conclusion (I'm [we're] outta here), abruptly
veered off at their respective right angles. It was well
choreographed.

Item #2

Friday, Oct. 11: Giving Lucy Ashley, my Michigan-mother-in-law, an
extremely condensed, one-day tour east of the Cascades, I was headed
home, west on the old Cle Elum-Ellensburg Road (Highway 10). The
trip was already a success because wed come across two dozen
Mountain Bluebirds on Bettas Road, up on the plateau north of Thorp.
A new (and beautiful) bird for her, Lucy had seen a slide of a
Mountain Bluebird on Mount St. Helens at Mondays WOS meeting and
she was eager to see the real thing. I was relieved to oblige.

As we crossed the dipper-nest bridge over the Teanaway River, I
glanced to the right but the heron nests were still hidden in
leaves. A couple hundred yards farther down the road two large
shapes in the same dead tree caught my eye. A quick U-turn revealed
a Merlin finishing lunch under the watchful attention of a flicker
3-4 feet away. I dont see many Merlins and Lucy never had, so that
was neat. As we looked on, three magpies (more new birds for Lucy)
flew into the tree to join the hawk[falcon]watch. Soon enough, all
the noise was too much for the Merlin and it flew off with its
harassing entourage in tow. But not far. We watched for about five
minutes as the falcon kept moving around looking for a quiet place
to eat. I sympathized.

Suddenly, a new player arrived on the scene. A Rough-legged Hawk
(another Lucy bird) swooped in to a central, tall tree, like an
eighth-grader in a seventh grade playground. The smaller players
looked around and seemed to realize the game was over and began to
drift away. So did we. We had one last tourist stop to do at the
Roslyn Cafe.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Fred Bird fredbird at Halcyon.com
1249 NE 92nd St. 206-526-5671 - v
Seattle 98115 206-5226557 - fax