Speeding across the Warren Ave bridge towards West Bremerton around 2:30
today I saw a bird do a barrel-roll. Whoa. Hmm, what to do, what to do,
take home the frozen food, or visit the park at the end of Elizabeth St to
see what was up. Naturally the latter took precedence.

Got down to the park and immediately heard loud cack-cack-cack-cacking,
located the Peregrine Falcon shortly thereafter. It was perched on the
outer edge of one of the concrete portions of the bridge supports. The
light was lousy, but I could tell the bird had a more of a buff coloration
where you'd expect the white parts to be. I watched for a few minutes and
then went home to grab the good bins and scope.

When I got back to the park about 20 min. later there was no falcon visible.
After a 10-min wait a falcon reappeared, this time perching in the middle of
one of the concrete portions, under the bridge. Coupled w/the lousy light
and being under the bridge, even w/a scope it was hard to see the bird well.
It started vocalizing and was focused on the opposite bridge support. This
went on maybe five minutes, when all of a sudden the bird "assumed the
position" and another PEFA flew in and they copulated. He took off and
circled the bridge, then came back and perched 6-8 feet away from her. She
started vocalizing again, and he left again. Seeing him soar off the bridge
was pretty cool. He stepped off and headed in the direction I was standing
and I could see how yellow and big his feet were as he pulled them up into
flight position.

Meanwhile, the female continued to call. Finally the male swooped in and
perched on a bridge support across from the female, out of my sight but well
within hers. She kept staring over at him, vocalizing, and finally flew
over to join him. Then it got Really Loud, am assuming more copulation took
place, one of the birds flew off, and things quieted down. These events
took place over a period of about 20 minutes, in the pouring rain. Thank
goodness for Gore-tex.

I counted about 50 alternate-plumaged Pelagic Cormorants perched under the
bridge on the metal girders. They kept coming and going, and there were
quite a few of them in the water below the bridge. I also saw a couple of
Pigeon Guillemots, a pair of Mallards, a pair of Barrow's Goldeneye, two
female Common Mergansers, and, barely 20 feet away, a Common Loon! Wow!
Had never seen one so closely before, what a thrill!

The Port WA Narrows/Dyes Inlet bird population has dropped dramatically.
Too bad. This area is quite a spectacle during the winter months. But
ahhh, the spring migrants will soon make up for the lack of waterfowl!

Cheers,
Mary

Mary Klein
Bremerton WA
CelloBird at seanet.com