Hi Folks:
Roger Orness, our Kent Ponds raptor guru sent the following message today,
Dec 6. Yesterday afternoon he parked at the maintenance gate on the west
side of Green River Natural Resources Area (Kent Ponds). The gate is at a
gravel drive off Russell Rd, about half way between the north parking lot,
and the main parking lot. He saw 3!!! SHORT-EARED OWLS. Use your car as a
blind, (stay in the car) and then the harriers and owls will sometimes fly
close. I tried to explain some of Roger's 4-letter codes (see in
parentheses) below.
Yours, Carol Schulz
DesMoines
-----------------
Hi Carol,

Thanks for posting the owls. I had only 5 minutes to squeeze in at the GRNRA
(Kent Ponds) W. gate
yesterday afternoon before I had to rush off for my bowling. Arrived at
16:10 and there
were at least 5 birds in the air. Three SEOW (SHORT-EARED OWLS) and 2 NOHA
(N HARRIERS). A third NOHA, perched low
on a stump E. of the interior drive gate was vocalizing. I thought there was
a fourth owl,
but I did not have time to verify, or scope the pefa (Peregrine Falcon) size
falcon on the S. lagoon Is. snag.
Got close looks at one of the owls landing only 75 feet away on a near log
and also one
of the hatch year harriers on the same log. The best time would be from
16:00 - 16:30.
Another trip down there this afternoon might be in my itinerary, if I finish
up my projects.

Roger



Subject: Sun. PM, Tacoma and Kent Ponds
From: "Lynn Schulz" <linusq AT worldnet.att.net>
Date: Sun, 4 Dec 2005 23:27:33 -0800

Hi Tweets:
I headed to ...................
There were Red-tailed Hawks, an adult female N Harrier, and two juv Cooper's
Hawks in the area. It was starting to get darker. I drove around to the
west side, and parked at the maintenance gate with my lights off. At 4pm,
just as my binocs were starting to fog up, the female harrier flew into a
close perch by my truck. Just then another large bird chased it away. Then
there were three birds flying out in the meadow. At least one of the them
was a SHORT-EARED OWL. There may have been two owls, but the birds did not
return for another view.
Yours, Carol Schulz
DesMoinesSubject: Kent Ponds and Emerald DownsFrom: "Mason Flint"
<masonflint AT hotmail.com>Date: Mon, 5 Dec 2005 10:35:28 -0800Lynn Schultz
and I were watching some of the same birds from slightly
different locations at Kent Ponds!

>From the north tower I saw Lynn parked in front of the maintenance gate
nearby. I watched a Harrier land just in front of her truck before turning
my attention back to the fields. Shortly thereafter I saw one SE Owl flying
low over the field. I'm sure that was one of the owls Lynn saw.Mason Flint
Snoqualmie, WA



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