Last Wednesday morning I watched while a peregrine (presumedly
"Freeway") divebombed an immature red-tailed hawk in a large cottonwood
across from Old Architecture on the UW campus. This went on for nearly 15
minutes, with the peregrine chattering away as she made pass after pass at
the poor hawk. Finally it gave up and left the area. Another person
there said he'd watched the same performance almost weekly this winter.
This immature red-tailed has been hanging around the UW for some time;
there is also a pair of adults which I often see soaring at the N end of
the campus.
Last weekend we spent two days on Saturna Island, the SE-most of
the Canadian Gulf Islands, and the most unspoiled of the near islands. At
the E. point lighthouse there is a rock just offshore which had 15 black
oystercatchers. The keeper said that they are almost always there. There
was also a big flock of white-winged scoters bucking a 5-7 knot tidal
current which was running arount the point. They wern't fishing, but
seemed to be in the strongest current just for fun.

************************
Robert Cleland

Professor, Botany Dept. Box 355325
Director, Biology Program, Box 355320
Univ. of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195-5325
Phone (206) 543-6105; FAX (206) 685-1728