Subject: Crockett Lake - Whidbey
Date: Feb 23 12:41:37 2003
From: Wayne C. Weber - contopus at shaw.ca


Carol,

Here are my responses to a couple of your questions and comments.

(1) Red-tailed Hawk vs Swainson's Hawk-- the hawk you saw was almost
certainly a Red-tail. Red-tail plumages are tremendously variable--
not only are there age differences, and different colour "phases" or
"morphs" among adults, but also great individual variation within each
morph.

Swainson's Hawks are fairly common in summer in some areas east of the
Cascades, but are extremely rare even as a migrant in western
Washington.
They winter mainly in South America, and your chance of seeing one in
the winter anywhere in Washington is essentially zero.

(2) The wing-tagged Northern Harrier-- this bird is in all likelihood
one that was marked as part of a long-term study of birds captured
mainly on Whidbey Island (especially on the Whidbey Naval Air Station)
and in the Kent Valley.

You should report your sighting to Jack Bettesworth at
jgbett at attbi.com (phone (206) 285-5276). Jack has asked observers to
report the exact date, time, and location of any wing-tagged birds.
You mentioned that the tag was green and was on the right wing. There
should also have been a letter or number in black lettering on the
tag, and there may have been a black circle around the letter/number.
However, even if you were not able to observe the letter or number,
I'm sure that Jack would be glad to hear of your sighting.

Thanks for reporting your sightings, and good birding in future!

Wayne C. Weber
Kamloops and Delta, BC
contopus at shaw.ca


----- Original Message -----
From: Carol Riddell <cariddell at mac.com>
To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Sunday, February 23, 2003 10:08 AM
Subject: Crockett Lake - Whidbey


> 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