hello tweets,

i had an absolutely wonderful day at reifel migratory bird refuge
yesterday with my companion. we did arrive late in the day so we
didn't have much time in the field there, but i did manage to feed
a chickadee from my open palm, watch a huge flock of at least
60,000 snow geese flee for their lives from hunters, flyng low
right over our heads, in fact. a few dowitchers were also seen in
the melee.

i also watched a peregrine chase shorebirds down the beach as the sun
was a flaming orange ball perched on the purple-blue horizon, and i
also saw a huge flock of dunlin flying around like a massive black
cloud of flies over the tideflats "cracking the whip" against the now
rapidly darkening skies. as i went to leave the observation tower, i
almost stepped on a virginia rail that immediately screamed in terror,
although i am sure that i was probably more startled than the rail,
who seemed delighted by my reaction.

we walked partway along the road that leads to reifel before we
left for the evening, in the hopes of finding the barred owl. we
were not exactly quiet, however, walking and talking and laughing,
but all of a sudden, i stopped in mid-sentence and mid-stride,
looked over my left shoulder and saw the barred owl staring intently
at me from a lichen-covered tree branch about ten feet above. the
owl peered at me with big dark eyes, bobbed her head a few times
and then fluffed her feathers, looking healthy and vital. we watched
this bird for at least ten minutes before the cold air drove us back
into the car for the night. as we drove away, we stopped briefly to
see if the owl was still on her perch. she was.

the evening then continued in a wonderful restaurant where my
companion and i ate an incredible meal of broiled salmon, crab-
and shrimp-stuffed prawns, filet mignon, and asparagus in white
wine sauce that had liberal amounts of butter mixed in. the
restaurant looked out over the south arm of the frazier river and
there was a small marina below the window so we could watch the
fishermen as they pulled in to the dock and cleaned up for the
evening. this wonderful meal ended up costing only $60 american,
but i have serious doubts that we could have found anywhere in
seattle that would serve a similar-quality meal for such a
pittance.

we found the border agents to be in a good mood when we reached
the border, almost as if they were welcoming us back home for
the holidays. to celebrate, i ate a bunch of those little alcohol-
filled dark chocolate bottles that i bought at london drugs
in ladner, BC.

dang, but i wish i had bought more of those things!

regards,

Deborah Wisti-Peterson, PhD Candidate nyneve at u.washington.edu
Department of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash, USA
Visit me on the web: http://students.washington.edu/~nyneve/
Life is better when you are reading a good book -- Author Tim Green