Subject: Samish falcons and hawks.....LONG
Date: Jan 14 18:02:52 2003
From: Blake Iverson - coopershwk at hotmail.com


Well, I went up today to the Samish flats and what a day! I stayed in one
spot from 8 in the morning to 2:30 in the afternoon. First thing I saw, an
adult female tundra peregrine. I watched her and she sat and relaxed etc.
There were A LOT of dunlin and black bellied plovers around. She went after
them and I mistakenly took off thinking she was going after a large flock
further down the road (It was very foggy and I didn't want to miss it), well
she spotted one much closer and I looked over to see her and she was just
diving down to pluck her food out of the water. She flew back to her post
and then started eating (many, many ravens around). Then, when almost
finished she took off. I just waited because she seemed like someone was
after her. Well, a prairie falcon was. She left well ahead of the prairie
and the prairie screamed his/her disappointment and went back to its pole. I
then drove to watch it, when a juv. female cooper's flew amongst the dunlin
etc. She wasn't hunting them but was searching for something. She landed on
a pole, it was hard to decide who to watch but knowing accipiters and their
short attention span, I watched her. I looked to make sure the prairie was
still there and then I saw to ravens going quite quickly to the cooper's.
She was on another pole and they dove at her a couple of times....then, one
landed, and the other was a little out of position so she made a beeline to
the bush that was next to her first pole. The raven turned around instantly
and went for her and she did a very, VERY quick move (it took a minute to
register what she did) where she all of a sudden was a little below and
behind the raven. She flipped up in accipiter style and the raven stuck its
feet out to grab her too. She bailed into a bush and after the ravens left.
I went to that bush and bumped her (what I intended) and got a very nice
glance of her up on the pole 15 feet away. She was very nervous and agitated
and she left. I watched her disappear. Then, another peregrine came in and
started attacking the flock of dunlin etc. (a little while later) and I had
a front row seat of this. She was not 50 feet away. I quickly spotted a
dunlin's fatal mistake, it separated from the flock thinking the peregrine
was preoccupied with the other birds. The falcon saw this at once and flew
it down very quickly, nabbed it accipiter style and was off. The prairie
almost flew off but decided not to. The flock of dunlin etc. is so cool
because of the rushing (quite loud) noise they make with their mass numbers
and their flurry of wings. The prairie then picked off a shorebird that I
didn't even see. I don't think the shorebird saw the prairie because the
bird didn't move! Then, after some waiting, another tundra female (adult)
came in and started harassing the eagle sitting in the nearby tree. It then
did something, hunted nearby or whatever, I don't remember. I also saw an
adult female RICHARDSON'S merlin, a little rare to see over here. She was
the merlin that I thought I saw off in the distance attack the dunlin flock
over the river. A male pheasant was seen, rough legged hawks, a dark morph,
possibly a Harlan's red tail, and lots of harriers and eagles. Later on,
the tundra female that I might have saw in the morning, was once again
feeding. She then finished, sat for a while, and then took off. I never let
falcons or accipiters out of my site until I can't see them just in case
they're making a huge circle to come back and capture something. She was
getting almost of out site when her body language changed. She started
pumping fast and hard ringing up underneath another bird. I figured out it
was another falcon, a tiercel (male) and then she flipped over when 20 or
less feet under the male, and caught something. She just did an exchange of
prey with her mat! How cool. She went off somewhere and ate. Prairie was
back with food when I came back after eating lunch. A redtail was sitting in
this area near where the cooper's was, and he all of a sudden took off. I
watched him as he chased down a dunlin and almost caught it! Clearly a sick
or injured one, for it was alone and almost caught by a RT. The RT persisted
in chasing the dunlin, then, swoosh. I look over to my right thinking a
falcon is attacking the dunlin etc. that were feeding and bathing in the
field, nope, nothing. I look back over to the RT's place and see a falcon
flying off with the dunlin. I missed it all! Oh well. That's about all that
happened that I could remember. Very cool day. My main goal was to watch
falcons and any other interesting raptor. A few birders wandered into my
area, one was probably an Seattle Audubon because I recognized on of the
front passengers in the lead car. I believe I went on one of his trips when
I was 13! A groups of ladies from down in Seattle also were nearby. Very
nice group to chat with briefly. Hear some birders on my radio but they
weren't to terribly close because understanding them was difficult.



Birds seen:

DUNLIN
BLACK BELLIED PLOVERS
YELLOWLEGS (SP.)
RICHARDSON'S MERLIN, FEMALE (1)
TUNDRA PEREGRINES, FEMALES (2-3?), MALE (1)
PRAIRIE FALCON, SEX UNKOWN (1)
JUV. COOPER'S HAWK, FEMALE (1)
HARLAN'S RED TAILED HAWK (1?)
ROUGH LEGGED HAWKS, DARK MORPH (1), LIGHT MORPH (3)
NORTHERN HARRIERS, FEMALE (3), MALE (2)
BALD EAGLES (5)
TUNDRA SWANS (A LOT)
CANADA GEESE (A LOT)
MALLARDS (A LOT)
WIGEONS OR GREEN WINGED TEAL (COULDN'T SEE)
GREAT BLUE HERON (4)
SONG SPARROW (4)
HOUSE FINCHES (HEARD)
MARSH WREN (1)
AMERICAN PIPITS (HEARD)
ROBINS (20)
STARLINGS (TOO MANY)
BREWER'S BLACKBIRDS (15)
RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS (1)
HOUSE SPARROW (HEARD ONE UNFORTUNATELY)
PHEASANT, MALE (1)
RAVENS (A TON)



Blake Iverson
Arlington, WA
coopershwk at hotmail.com

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