My husband and I watched the Red-shouldered Hawk for about 5 minutes at
about 11 am this morning. It has been reported several times over the past
few weeks as being located near Van Dyke Rd, off Independence Rd southwest
of Rochester. We found the bird by taking the first right off Van Dyke
(Backman Rd) and driving about 2/10 of a mile to the open field. The hawk
was perched in the largest deciduous tree almost directly across from the
mailbox. While we were watching the hawk, it began circling and
continuously calling. It landed in the largest fir, south of the field.

We left briefly to get another "birding couple" we had met earlier on
Independence Rd. When the four of us returned, the bird was no longer in
the fir.

Beautiful bird with a very distinctive call. I hope the couple with the
Federal Way license plate was able to locate it.

Seahawk commitments allowed for only a quick drive by to try to locate the
Prairie Falcon. It was not in the "gyr tree", nor along any of the fence
lines/tree lines viewable from Wagner Rd close to the Lewis/Thurston Co
line.

BEAUTIFUL DAY!!!

Jan Watson





Jan Forsman-Watson
Rochester, WA
mailto:JanFWatson at msn.com