Good day folks,

Yesterday morning I headed up the Snoqualmie Valley from Fall City to north
of Carnation to take a long route to work since it was a splendid sunny
morning. I saw not one, but THREE of the nicest views of Norther Harriers
I've seen in many years. By far the best was on the West Snoq. Valley Rd.
about 100 yards south of the Jubilee Farm's barn, west of the road. It was
about 15' from the road on the ground standing atop a nice fluffy pile of
compost/hay/grass/whatever, just hanging out half asleep enjoying the warm
sun. I just slowly pulled up to a stop in the road, took 6-7 slides with
the 300mm lens, and watched it for 3-4 minutes until it stared at me again,
stretched, and flew over to another similar pile about 50' away. Amazing
experience. The other two were just north of Sikes Lake west of Carnation
Farm, both soaring around over the lake/fields, occasionally stopping for a
stop in the middle of the field. I don't know if they ever claim American
Coots for a meal, but every time they went near the water, the group of 200+
coots sure got nervous!

Other birds seen of interest were:

Red-tailed Hawk (5)
Northern Shrike (1)
White-crowned Sparrow (2)
Bald Eagle (1)
Common Merganser (4)
Hooded Merganser (15+)
Double Crested Cormorant (25+)
American Wigeon (hundreds)
Robin, Mallard, Dark-eyed Junco, House Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird,
etc....

One other highlight: wonderful photo opportunity of a tabby cat sleeping on
the roof of the red barn by Jubilee Farms, enjoying the sun --- got a half
dozen good slide images of it too :-)

Cheers,
Alan Bauer
Fall City, WA
alan_bauer at msn.com