Went down to Bob Heirman Park, Snohomish County this morning to do some
plant inventory work; a gazillion fisherpeople were out and parking was full
and I had to park by the railroad bridge, apparently the Pink Salmon are
running right now pretty good. There was a great egret in the large pond at
Heirman.Kind of hard to miss, big white bird. Even some of the fisherman
noticed. A bittern briefly appeared at the small pond, then melted into the
grass again.

A Redtail sort of lazily soared over the smaller pond and an accipter
(Probably a coopers but I was never quite sure) came pumping up out of the
trees on a beeline for the redtail. The redtail just kept soaring and the
smaller accip flew deadon at it causing the redtail to veer suddenly. The
redtail yelled, the accip yelled and swerved and dove at it again. This time
the redtail flipped its talons as the accip got close, which made it veer
off. The accip circled around twice to gain altitude and get above the
redtail, who made up its mind and started a fast glide towards the river and
away from this annoying little hawk, who followed the redtail and yelled at
it (calling it bad names I bet) all the way across the grass area. The accip
turned back at the dike and flew straight away back into the trees near the
small pond whence it came. Why would an accip act so aggressively? I could
see where the accip perched (not a good look though) and there was no
obvious nest anywhere nearby, but then again, if there were, it could be
well hidden.

Rob Sandelin
South Snohomish County at the headwaters of Ricci Creek
Sky Valley Environments <http://www.nonprofitpages.com/nica/SVE.htm>
Field skills training for student naturalists
Floriferous at msn.com



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