Subject: Eurasian Kestrel
Date: Nov 8 17:13:16 1999
From: Hughbirder at aol.com - Hughbirder at aol.com


Joyce Meyer, Derek Mahaffey and I headed up to Bow at 0830 Mon. morning in
the rain. We got to Colony Road area about 0930 and met a man from NJ. He had
been there since 0600 and had seen the EUKE about 30 minutes earlier on power
lines on Colony Rd. He got good looks and it flew off behind some trees. He
hadn't seen it since. (we found out he had also been in WA over a week ago to
see the Eurasian Dotterell). We and a car from CA checked out the area from
there to Legg Rd with no success. We decided to head for the West 90 and come
back later. At Bow in fir trees north of the P.O. we spotted a PRAIRIE
FALCON. On the Samish Is. Road we saw a number of RED-TAILED HAWKS with wings
spread out to dry off. At West 90 we saw a number of NORTHERN HARRIER four
SHORT-EARED OWLS in the air at one time.

We went back to the EUKE area and found three cars with scopes out. They had
just seen the bird and it had dropped down behind the dike. We joined them
with our two scopes and the bird was soon spotted. It was still a long way
off over the dikes to the west, probably 300 yds, so we all walked about half
way to get better looks. And then to about 100 yds away where we could pretty
good looks. It spent most of its time hovering, but would land on a rock, in
a tree or on the ground for short periods. There was a strong east wind by
this time, but no rain, so the bird could easily hang in the air without much
effort. So it was a very successful quest. We also met Vic Nelson of Pt. No
Pt. there plus birders from CA and BC.

A list of the most interesting birds seen are:

Eurasian Kestrel
Prairie Falcon
Peregrine Falcon
Red-tailed Hawks - 14
Northern Harrier - 11
Bald Eagle - 3
Short-eared Owl - 4
Trumpeter Swan - 50+
Dunlin - 1
Common Snipe - 2

Hugh Jennings
Bellevue, WA
hughbirder at aol.com