Hi Tweeters, and RAS:
Roger Orness called from the Green River Valley near Kent yesterday
(Friday) afternoon. He reported Snow Geese and Tundra Swans from down
near W Valley hwy. I dressed warm (but not warm enough - brrrr) and
headed down a little later to W Valley hwy which parallels I-167 and
is just west of it. This section of W Vly hwy is south of Kent. Exit
I-167 at Willis, turn west and then south at the light onto 68th Ave
( W Valley). I turned west off W Valley onto Frager Rd, and drove
about 1/2 mile past the nursery to a large corn field. There were 7
Tundra Swans on the field. About 10 American Pipets were landing in
the field. There were huge flocks of blackbirds, pigeons, starlings,
and crows flying about. Roger drove up and got a glimpse of a
Cooper's Hawk but it was hard to see the reason for the flocks doing
their evasive flights. We kept looking for a falcon, but didn't see
one.
I then drove south on W Valley to the start of the big fields near
Smith Bros. Right at the north part of the fields is a Dept of
Transportation drive. I pulled into the field just north of that.
This field is north of 277th St and can be seen from I-167. I-167 is
to the east of it. There were 12 Snow Geese in the field along with
Western and Cackling Canada Geese. It is a corn field w/ stubble in
it. I drove across W Valley to a muddy area near some piles of dirt,
and w/ my scope I could see a female American Kestrel sitting on a
green backhoe, a light-colored Merlin in a small tree, and a
Red-tailed Hawk on a telephone pole eating some prey. A good place to
spot perched raptors is a line of telephone poles that run east to
west thru that field. Roger had spotted a Peregrine Falcon there
earlier. The field is so large that you need a scope for good views
unless a falcon flies by you. This is the old Smith Bros Dairy. No
cows there anymore, as the dairy has moved most of its operations to E
WA.
I then drove north to Kent Ponds. Walked into the power line trail,
and into the S tower. The gate has been removed from there now, so
you can go in there anytime. The south tower has good views of the
largest pond (the lagoon) and of the west meadow. I was looking for a
possible Short-eared Owl. We have had two reports about it fairly
recently, but I have not been able to see one there. I never did see
the SEOW, but there were a number of interesting sightings anyway. By
now, it was 38 degrees in that tower, and I thought it was pretty
cold. Finally the sun came out from under a cloud, and the birds
started getting active. There were 2 Red-tailed Hawks, a nice adult
Cooper's Hawk that flew to various snags, a flying female N Harrier,
and 3 W Meadowlarks chasing each other. Two Wilson's Snipe flew. A
dusky N Shrike that was just starting to get its mask flew to the top
of a snag. And my first Yellow-shafted N Flicker of the season flew
over the fence by the power line trail. I've been looking for one of
those. I didn't see the two Bald Eagles that Roger had seen perched
in snags earlier. The census group on Sunday saw two American
Bitterns but I did not see them. Hope they are keeping warm enough.
>From that point I drove around to Russell Road south of Kent Ponds and
the Barn Owl was in its box on the big fir tree. It was a good (if
cold) afternoon in the valley.
Yours, Carol Schulz
DesMoines