Hi Tweets,

The rain's finally stopped, the sun's come out, the wind is from the south,
and the raptors are clearly on their way.

On the commute in to work on the SkyTrain this morning, there were several
Red-tails, a harrier and three eagles on the ridge wave over the hill at the
Burnaby/New Westminster border. A couple more eagles were over Douglas
Island, but these could have been the local pair that's got a new eyrie
(it's quite small) in the cottonwoods just across the river from Westminster
Quay.

Forgot to post (distracted by work, haha) that on Tuesday 3/18 a northbound
immature 'ringtail phase' Golden Eagle (scarce for Vancouver BC) sailed over
the office at about 50 ft height, showing its 'god's-eyes' wing patches as
clearly as anyone could ever see them. As usual, an enigmatic omen, if an
omen at all....

Further forget to post that the imm Cooper's Hawk that's been hanging around
here for the last week or so was hunting starlings or pigeons around the New
West SkyTrain station; I spotted it flying low, a part of the morning
traffic flow a few feet off Columbia Street between a bus and a pickup and
effortlessly keeping traffic speed. Blasted through the red light, though,
and I'd guess it rarely bothers to stop for stop-signs either.

I know they use ground features and contour as cover for their bushwhacking,
but this is the first time I've ever seen one using moving traffic for
concealment.

And, finally, there's been a trickle of northbound Barrow's & Common
Goldeneyes heading up-river for the last couple weeks. Migrants, I know,
because there's been none here all winter long, like the raptors over the
big hill.

Michael Price
Vancouver BC Canada
mprice at mindlink.net