Monday, 7 February 00, you wrote to me:

[snipped everything]
I-5 Corridor Hawks:
Between Oly and Hwy 12 exit (to White Pass), you'll see mostly
red tails. I know most of em by name. :) I look for light patch on
the breast if I see strange ones in that stretch. BTW, my car won't
go over 50 (55 downhill) is why I know all the hawks in that stretch
so well. Also have seen bald eagles and kestrels a lot along there
but won't mistake that silhouette for a red-tail. There is a large
concentration of red-tails between Centralia and Chehalis (about 4
mile stretch) where they have duck ponds on one side of the road and a
marshy field hawk paradise on the other side (neither marsh nor ponds
are really visible to traffic thru there but hawks in trees can see
em).

Otherwise, use head shape mostly to make ids is advice from this often
frustrated hawk watcher. The Northern Harrier (marsh hawk) is also
pretty common but sticks to its habitat pretty much.

Brice Matson
Cinebar, Lewis County, WA
mailto:matson at myhome.net