Thanks to all you Tweeters who responded to my question about the Audubon
bird call, especially the descriptions of such a device. I ended up finding
a bird call at "Wild Birds Unlimited" in South Center. It is the wood and
brass "key" variety and is labeled "Solly's Choice". I know that Cecil Solly
is a Seattle area resident, and the package indicates that this device was
made in that familiar Seattle suburb - Taiwan. The first attempt at using
this on my enclosed patio immediately produced a Black-capped Chickadee from
an adjoining rhody bush, but these guys are so frequent and nearly tame that
I consider them close to domesticated. That has been the only result so far.

I have been reading the Tweeter's messages about Mourning Doves. Because of
that, I will relate what I witnessed this past Friday, about mid-day. I was
walking along the Sous Creek trail (a wetland preserve on the eastern edge of
Kent) through a stand of trees, upland on one side, and wetland on the other.
The trail provided about a 15 to 20 foot opening through the trees. As I
was walking, a Sharp-shinned Hawk flew across the trail from within the
upland stand of trees to the wetland side, carrying in its talons a smaller
bird. This occurred less than 30 feet in front of me, and the birds were
about 10 to 15 feet in altitude. The wetland trees are all deciduous and
barren of leaves, so I could see portions of the flight for the short
distance that it continued. The falcon and prey descended in altitude and at
a point about 3 or 4 feet above the ground the falcon released (or the prey
escaped?) the bird it was carrying, which dropped straight down to the ground
and out of sight. The hawk made a small circle back to the area of where the
prey had gone, and disappeared. I stood and watched for some time, but that
was the end of the sighting.

I am not a real birder, but spent a good deal of time identifying a hawk that
perched on the fence above my thistle feeder holding a Goldfinch a couple of
years ago. Because of its small size and distinct markings I identified it
with my Audubon field guide as a Sharp-shinned Hawk. He perched on the fence
(about 30 feet away from me) for more than 5 minutes holding the Goldfinch
before flying away, so I got a good look at it. I had previously, though
tentatively, identified a Cooper's Hawk which had trapped another Goldfinch
up against my glass patio door, no more than 10 feet from where I sat - it
was the banging against the patio door that got my attention to look in that
direction. I have seen other hawks of the Cooper's (?) variety buzzing the
patio feeder areas of my apartment complex. I am in downtown Kent, about a
half mile from the Green River, which has a large supply of Goldfinches.

Back to Sous Creek. The Sharp-shinned was holding its prey by the wings,
somewhere near the "shoulders", so that the prey appeared to be in flight
beneath the hawk. Yet it wasn't because it showed no motion of its own at
all. The prey's wings were partially extended, but not flapping, and its
head was "up", as opposed to bent over as in death. The prey was somewhat
larger than a Robin (that was my first thought), but was gray all over, yet
along side the gray upper body of the hawk, it was a somewhat lighter shade.
It was a little smaller than the Sharp-shinned, but not much, and that is
what I found shocking as I witnessed the event. I thought of the possibility
that it was a Mourning Dove, but then discounted it, because I have walked
that trail at various times and have not seen any. After seeing all the
posts regarding Mourning Doves, I guess I'm back to that explanation. What
the final outcome of this episode was, I don't know. If the prey were
dinner, it would have provided enough leftovers until Thanksgiving.

Jim Brewster
Kent, Washington