I spent several hours at the West 90 on the Samish River Flats today,
catching lots of gyrfalcon action from about 10:30 am to 2 pm. It was
almost sunny, with minimal wind. In that period I saw it eat 4 prey items,
which I believe were 3 voles and 1 bird. Most activity was to the west
northwest, a few hundred yards from the lot. The voles were taken from
harriers and a raven; in one case we saw the falcon catch the vole in the
air, having been dropped by the harrier after an acrobatic chase. Two voles
were consumed on the third power pole to the north, after a bald eagle
briefly chased the gyr. At one point the eagle and gyrfalcon were quite
close on adjacent perchs, and visible in the same field of view in the
scope.

Other species included red tails, rough legged hawks, herons, and many many
red-winged blackbirds. I didn't see any short eared owls at all today.
Rawlins Road at the Skagit North Fork was pretty quiet, just one harrier, no
owls; Maupin Rd had several thousand snow geese. The Big Ditch had lots of
eagles, dunlin, harriers, pintails, and dunlin. No owls that I could find.

The perchs on the I-5 median south of the Stanwood exit had a red tail
around 3:45pm. A merlin was on Josh Wilson Rd near I-5 at about 10:15 am.

Kevin Li
Ballard, USA