Twice I've seen great blue herons make an especially notable catch; at Nisqually NWR I watched one swallow a large and very feisty snake, and in Ballard I saw one swallow a swallow, a purple martin off of one of my nest boxes. I'm not at all surprised that a heron would eat a mole given the opportunity, but it would be a special treat to actually witness such an event. Long ago I read of a cattle egret eating a yellow warbler.

At Spencer Island today, Kris Baker & I saw seven swallows, a snipe, a peregrine, numerous eagles and red-tails, a few harriers, a couple of pileated woodpeckers, and two woolly caterpillars. Kris spotted a merlin as we left through Everett, but I kept my eyes on the road.

Kevin Li
Ballard, USA
kdli at msn.com