Mon, Dec 19, I checked Rock Prairie on the western outskirts of Tenino for
White-tailed Kite and found 6 raptor species. A search along Old Hwy 99
looking southward from the Alpacas of America farm where some years kites
have been observed in the small deciduous trees yielded an AMERICAN KESTREL
and 2 red-tails. (There are a number of pull-offs on this route.) Near the
end of Mima Acres Rd, which skirts the east and south edge of Rock Prairie I
found one adult WHITE-TAILED KITE. Soon a MERLIN took the perch vacated by
the kite only moments earlier, and then a female NORTHERN HARRIER floated
by. More RED-TAILED HAWKS patrolled the fields and inner prairie, and a
COOPER'S HAWK retreated from an unsuccessful sortie over a flock of panicked
starlings and landed in a tree 30 yard away. Location: In fir trees on the
prairie's edge at the end of a fresh gravel driveway (as yet uninhabited)
marked by a well digging company's red-and-white sign just past Brittney
Lane at about 17931 Mima Acres Rd. Another vantage point is at the end of
the road, where you can park and walk a short distance past a red shed; or
try looking into the prairie from about 17116 Mima Acres. Other birds of
interest: TOWNSEND'S WARBLER, W.
MEADOWLARK and, if you like 'em, W. SCRUB JAYs galore. Good birding!
Paul Hicks
Tenino
phicks AT accessgrace.org