Greetings,

I was able to snatch an hour up at Crockett Lake yesterday afternoon around
4 p.m. This is what we saw:

Mallards
Gadwalls
Northern pintails
Wigeons
Green-winged teals
Wigeons
Ruddy ducks
Buffleheads
Common goldeneyes
Greater scaups
Surf scoters
Red-breasted mergansers
Hooded mergansers
Surf scoters
Red-tailed hawk
Northern harriers
Short-eared owl (male)

Several questions/comments. First, the red-tailed was perched low and with
the sun behind us so I got a good look at its face through my 80 mm scope.
The face had the white markings of a Swainson's hawk. Have I just never had
such a good look at a red-tailed's face? Any comments? Second, one of the
northern harriers had a bright green tag attached to the lesser coverts of
the right wing. This is the first time I've seen that. Does anyone know of
a study being conducted now? Third, this was my first sighting of a
short-eared owl. After reading Sibley's helpful comments about their
coursing over meadows in the way that harriers do, it now makes me wonder
how many times I might have missed one in the past on the assumption that I
had just glimpsed a harrier. I would like to think that I'm always careful
to look for the longer tail and the white rump patch on the harrier, but who
knows! We were able to watch both the owl and one of the harriers perched
and hunting. We got good full-face views of both birds and were able to
contrast the tail length. It was a perfect opportunity for a study in
contrasts and similarities, in other words a great learning experience.

Carol Riddell
Edmonds
cariddell at mac.com