Tweetsters,

Yesterday at Twin Rivers Wildlife Area south of Monroe I saw (with my
sparrows class field trip) an adult light-morph "Harlan's" Red-tailed Hawk,
a scare color morph of a somewhat locally scarce wintering Red-tailed Hawk
subspecies. [Sibley's p. 123 illustration of this form is essentially
identical to the bird seen at Twin Rivers.] The bird flew down the tree line
near the north access to the W.A. which is off Tualco Loop Rd. I have seen
only a few examples of this light-morph in western Washington in two
decades, but one of these was also this fall, in mid-October along Bradshaw
Rd. about a mile north of Rexville, perched atop a tree in a farm house
yard. Several drives since along Bradshaw haven't turned up this hawk.
Also at Twin Rivers W.A. yesterday were two White-throated Sparrows, one
about a hundred yards from the parking area along the trail that crosses the
slough to get to the cornfields. Someone, presumable pheasant hunters, has
been throwing out corn at this spot and a couple others along the bramble
edges, attracting the sparrow flocks too.

Who'll stop the rain,
Bob Sundstrom

**Note new email address**
ixoreus at scattercreek.com
Tenino, WA