Kris Baker and I had a great day of sunny weather on the Flats on Friday;
thousands of snow geese were on the south part of Fir Island, near the
black-crowned night heron rookery. Only 2 of the BC herons were spotted. The
end of Rawlins Rd provided us great looks at a short-eared owl and many
harriers. The west end of Darcy Rd had an American kestrel, as expected.
West 90 had a very cooperative peregrine on a nearby pole, and another one
made a quick fly-by. Harriers were especially frequent, and we also had a
couple of rough legged hawks, red tails, and short eared owl; eagles seemed
to be all over the place.
At Church Rd and Farm to Market Rd we had a glimpse of what we think was a
likely gyrfalcon, judging from its size and powerful flight to the south.
I would elaborate more, but the sunshine beckons again on this gorgeous
Saturday!


Kevin Li
King County Environmental Lab
322 West Ewing St
Seattle, WA 9810