>X-Sender: bud at frg.org (Unverified)
>Date: Mon, 01 Nov 1999 13:46:54 -0800
>To: "FRG members":;
>From: Bud Anderson <bud at frg.org>
>Subject: Eurasian Kestrel Sighting
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>
>Hi Everyone,
> Yesterday (Sunday, 31 October 1999) four of us (Mark Gleason, Ed Deal,
>Martin Muller and I) observed a Eurasian Kestrel (also called the Common
>Kestrel or just Kestrel in England) at around 1000 on Chuckanut Drive
>approximately .8 mile north of the Bow Post Office. We observed it for
>around 15 minutes as it hunted in a field by a large dairy barn. It perched
>on fenceposts and a tractor and made multiple hunting attempts into a
>grassy pasture. As we went to get permission to enter the property to
>photograph it, the bird dropped down behind an embankment and we lost sight
>of it. Although all of us spent the rest of the day looking for it, as well
>as all morning today, we never saw it again.
> The bird may have continued to migrate south or it may simply be
>somewhere on the Samish Flats we are not looking. There is no way to know.
>However, we thought that perhaps someone else will see it again somewhere
>in western Washington. So be on the lookout.
> Watch for what appears to be a female Kestrel, but it will be a
>noticeably bigger. You will be struck by how pale and sandy- colored it
>appears, much more beige than our species, which is more rufous. It will
>NOT have a typical AMKE head. There are no multiple malars and no blue
>above the eye. You can't miss the differences. It does have a dark
>"earpatch" behind the eye. Ed calls it an eyestripe.
> The tail is similar to an American Kestrel with a wide, black
>subterminal band and narrower transverse stripes above it. The back is
>quite different with beautiful "chevrons" or "triangles" instead of solid
>barring.
> In flight, the outer half of the wing, including primary coverts, is
>dark (blackish) on top contrasting with the more rufous inner wing. Check
>out your Clark and Wheeler guides for details and photos (p. 164).
> If you happen to see it again, please give me a call at (360) 757-1911
>or e-mail me..
> Good luck,
> Bud

Dennis Paulson, Director phone 253-756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax 253-756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416
http://www.ups.edu/biology/museum/museum.html