It was an interesting morning at the LHG in Bellevue. At one time I saw a
Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper's Hawk and Red-tailed Hawk all in the same
cottonwood tree at Larsen Lake. The COHA and RTHA both stayed perched in the
same place, but the Sharpie would flit from one perch to another ever few
seconds. It appeared very nervous about the nearness of the other two.
Finally it flew off and the Cooper's immediately went after the Sharpie.
After it chased it about 100 yards away, the Cooper's flew back and perched
in a different tree from the Red-tail's. That is the first time I have seen
all three hawk species in the same area. I also saw three other RTHAs between
Larsen and Phantom Lakes. I also saw a muskrat in Larsen Lake, the first
since last Jan. The first COMMON MERGANSER for this fall showed up at Larsen
Lake.

In October a restoration project for a degraded wetlands in the boardwalk
area west of 148th was completed. It involved removing buttercup, reed canary
grass and blackberry vines from a large area. A retention pond was also
created and almost 7000 native plants were planted. This is beginning to have
the desired effect of attracting more wildlife to the area. This morning I
saw 2 Common Snipe, 11 Canada Geese, 12 Mallard, 2 Green-winged Teal, 4
Gadwall and 3 American Wigeon.

Hugh Jennings
Bellevue, WA
hughbirder at aol.com