On Sat, 21 Sep 1996, Michael Patrick wrote:

> At Martha Lake, a suburbs about 30 miles north of Seattle, I observed a
> falcon and an accipiter circling high overhead.

[snip]

> > As far as identifying goes, they both appeared rather light on the
> undersides, and the accipter appeared pin-headed. I don't recall
> which of the accipiters was described as relatively small headed in
> proportion to body, would someone be willing to share that field mark?
> My estimate to size was the accipiter on par with a crow, which only
> rules out the sharp-shinned...
>
Michael--

oddly enough it is the Sharpie that has the smaller head
in proportion to the rest of its body...and since you did
say they were *too far away to see any markings* I'd vote
Sharpie..that being the case, the equivalent size falcon
was probably a merlin..


> I would enjoy hearing of other inter-specific raptor encounters, as I look
> forward to the great raptor-watching that the northwest fall and winter
> offers.

indeed...some of us are puzzling over whether the rodents
have sufficiently recovered after the Nisqually flood to
support the usual raptor population we all look forward to
in Nov..

Saw a great encounter between an adult redtail and a Harlans
at NWR..the redtail (with a red tail) was trying to rip off
a vole from the Harlans..
>
Tom