Hi Tweets,

I spent Thanksgiving day morning feasting on some rare
bird(ing) leftovers. A Northern Mockingbird was found by Roger
Orness along the North end of Russell Rd in Kent on Monday. I
first heard about it last night from Dave Swayne, who I thank
profusely for. Roger, who found the bird Monday, is more of a
raptor afficianado than a dickey-bird specialist and wasn't
sure about the bird's ID at first, thus he was a little reluctant
to report it.
The bird can be seen often perching on the fence that
surrounds the Kent Ponds, about 1/4 mile South of 212th St. You
can only turn onto Russell Rd when proceeding Eastbound on 212th;
if you're Westbound on 212th go past Russell Rd and turn left
about 1/2 mile later. Follow this road to the stop sign and go
left again. This will take you to Frager Rd. If you go left on
Frager check a holly tree on your left - the Mocker was seen
crossing the river and flying into the holly at one point. If
the bird isn't in the holly tree keep going North on Frager to
212th and go right (over the river) and immediately right onto
Russell Rd after crossing the bridge. You can park at a pullout
called Anderson Park (about 300 sq ft and a dozen pine trees).
The mocker has been seen sitting on the fence just South of the
park.
As we watched the Mockingbird, stood around chatting and
looking at Roger Orness's (like Xantus's?) photos we saw quite
a few other raptors. 1-2 Bald Eagles passed over the ponds,
making seemingly unsuccesful attempts to catch ducks, an accipiter
cruising West, both male & female Kestrels and
several resident Redtails.
Best of all though, as we were leaving two large brown
birds streaked across the road towards the river. The leading
bird dove into the vegetation along the river bank and the trailer
circled back around towards the ponds. As it came around I saw the
Falcon shape and black axillaries. A Prairie Falcon! In Kent!
The pair had passed in front of Roger's truck and when we both
pulled over he told me that the leading bird which escaped had
been a h
been a hen Pheasant. The Prairie perched on a snag in the pond
complex for quite a while giving us ample opportunity to study it
in the scope.
What a day! I wish they were all Holidays.

Jim Flynn
bf519 at scn.org