Today we flushed a short-eared owl on one of the prairies on Fort Lewis
(main base). It was, obviously, a beautiful sight to behold as it took off
and slowly circled around us, flapping those huge wings.

Yesterday, we saw both a male and female harrier cruise the prairie
(separately), along with about 30 violet green swallows. In between the
shelling, western meadowlarks can be heard singing again (one of autumn's
treats on the prairie) and savannah sparrows are still fairly abundant,
though rarely seen unless flushed.

Rod Gilbert
Olympia
roderickgilbert at attbi.com