At 0:18 PM +0000 01/09/1999, Clarice Clark and Jerry Broadus wrote:
> Got to the ponds about 9 this am. Sw two Peregrine Falcons, two red
> tailed hawks, one immature Bald Eagle, one Kestrel, and one Northern
> Harrier. Went up on the most Western tower and there were a lot of
> fat owl pellets. Didn't see the owl, but the Kestrel was roosting
> there when we went up and did n't flush until we were almost on top.
> The falcons chased each other around, the eagle chased the ducks and
> it rained.
> Clarice Clark
> Saturday, Jan 9
> Clarice Clark
> jbroadus at seanet.com
> Puyallup, WA. 98371

Coincidentally, my wife and I stopped by the ponds on Sunday about 1:00 pm
to check things out. Although the gates were not open on Sunday, we
immediately saw a Peregrine Falcon with a very full crop at the East side,
in a tree next to the street. There was a also a mature Bald Eagle in one
of the dead trees. On my last few visits before Xmas, there were usually a
pair of Eagles either roosting or touring the area. As we walked along the
bike path, the immature BE came along seeming to want to assert himself.
He caused the Perigrene to relocate again, after it had moved once to get
further away from us, and was soundly chased by the mature BE. He finally
displaced a Kestral from a post W. of the ponds. The Kestral then landed
in a tree and waved its tail up and down in what looked like a fit of rage.
We saw three Red-tails in the trees N. of the ponds. There is a Red-tail
nest in the parking lot of one of warehouses S. of the area. The birds
have been working on it, and it is visible from the southernmost tower.
This is a great place. I'll check the owl pellets if I ever get there on a
day when the gates are open. (I usually stop there on Tuesday or Sunday
morning after playing tennis, and these are the two days they close.) Also
saw Lincoln's, Song, Fox, and Gold-crowned Sparrows and the usual ducks,
including Grren-winged Teal, Lesser Scaup, Common Mergansers, Gadwalls,
Pintails, Ruddies, and some nice Hooded Mergansers.

Chuck Pell
Seattle, WA
jettran at halcyon.com