Greetings Tweeters!

Having decided to take today as a vacation day the only big decision remaining was whether to go west and look for the Black-tailed Gull or to head north in search of the Gyrfalcon. I elected (smile) to head north as the direction in which I might meet up with clearing skies. On arriving at the Samish 90 I pulled over by the parking lot, but not in to park since I don't have the appropriate permit, and scanned the area for several minutes. I then decided to drive on north for a ways and check out the farm land on both sides of the road. Seeing only an intermediate plumaged adult Red-tailed, I turned around at the next 90 and drove back to the parking area, scanned again then turned around to try up the road once more. While waiting for a car to pass so I could cruise the area at a leisurely pace, the Gyrfalcon flew in from the west and landed on the cross-arm of a utility pole just across the road from the first farm building north of the parking area! Yeah! It was pr!
etty awesome because the Gyr spread its wings and tail feathers to make a "cape" - much like a classic cartoon vampire silhouette (Well.....Halloween is only two days past :-) and sat there looking around. It was now about 11:15 a.m., the rain had stopped and the sky was clear....a good time to dry one's feathers after a morning's hunt, I suspect. Anyone so inclined could have counted the primaries and tail feathers! This was a very nice lifer sighting for me. There was also a lovely male Northern Harrier cruising around.

I returned by Bayview-Edison Road and saw two Red-tailed Hawks doing the same thing...sitting on utility poles with wings and tails outstretched, persumably drying off. They had been actively hunting when I saw them earlier this morning in the fields, along with a couple of Bald Eagles.

Cheers!

Judy Rowe Taylor
Mukilteo, WA
mailto: judyrowetaylor at comcast.net