Subject: crepuscular buteos
Date: Mar 23 19:12:26 2001
From: Netta Smith - nettasmith at home.com


On my way home yesterday evening I was driving by Boeing Field on I-5 just
at dusk, well after the sun had gone down but when the western sky was still
bright. I noted a buteo (surely a Red-tail, as Rough-legs are quite rare
around Seattle) hovering over the grass between the freeway and the runway,
perhaps hunting the rats that start coming out as night falls. Another
Red-tail was perched high in a cedar next to the freeway, almost surely
still hunting, as they seem to go to a secluded roost when bedtime comes. I
wonder if this is commonplace in Red-tails or if these birds were
incorporating new behavioral modes into their genome.

Speaking of behavioral modes, I have mixed emotions that I didn't get
involved in the Oldsquaw - Long-tailed Duck discussion (with me, it's plain
the pain is mainly to refrain). I do have two more names for that long list
- Polar Duck and Polarized Duck.

Dennis Paulson
--
Netta Smith and Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115