my day started out auspiciously enough, having slept through the first loud
alarm set for 4.30 am... as i'm not a morning person by genetic
disposition, finding myself barely awake an hour and twenty minutes later,
then realizing my need to be at the carpool location (which is 10 minutes
away) in 5 minutes, an abrupt awakening was called for..

the start of the trip itself seemed to bode well, with a Very Large Owl
crossing our path as we sped past Woods Creek (near Monroe). guesses
included a Great Horned Owl, but being amateurs at 60 mph glimpses (as well
as other, much slower, speeds), this owl's avian heritage will remain just a
guess... meeting bud anderson and vivian at the sultan bakery was a treat,
and so the caravan began towards leavenworth...

i think most of the participants found the ridge's weather rather brisk
during the morning hours, if amazingly beautiful. we had left seattle to
dank overcast and misty drizzle and fog, only to find mostly blue skies and
bracing breezes on the ridge itself.

for the next several hours, we were easily entertained and educated by
up-close-and-personal time with numerous sharp-shinned and cooper's hawks,
and merlins, all banded and brought down to the watch area by bud's crew of
volunteers... many of us were honoured to be allowed to hand-release these
birds; i, myself, was thrilled to be chosen to release a merlin.

for those interested, a few photos are available in the Photos of the Month
section of the Park Gallery... if you'd like more information regarding the
hawk watch, please contact Bud and the Falcon Research Group at
bud at frg.org...

00 caren
http://www.parkgallery.org
nursing excited exhaustion near JBP
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