Hi Tweets.

Following up on some postings, Sheri and I headed for Nisqually NWR today with a picnic lunch and binoculars. We identified 31 speicies on our walk around the dike, so it was a good day of birding following a good picnic lunch. But I couldn't help wondering if some tweets don't know their Red-tailed Hawks too well. We looked far and wide for the incredibly improbable Red-shouldered Hawk and the southmost Snowy Owl.

There is a variety of Red-tailed Hawk that is very white from head on. Sibley shows this bird on the Red-shoulder Hawk page (p. 104) of his Western bird guide. This bird looks a lot like an immature snowy owl. Both these birds have recently graced the Tweeters digest.

Now here's the deal. There aren't any Red-shouldered Hawk in Washington. Look at the map. If you want to see these, go to southern Florida, where they are the common hawk. (We just spent a week watching Red-shouldered Hawks at 6-Mile Cypress county park and Ding Darling NWR.) And snowy owl ... I'd believe Red-tailed Hawk a lot quicker in Nisqually NWR. Maybe not so in the Skagit Flats area.

Fess up if you've over-exhuberantly spotted a Red-shouldered Hawk or an immature Snowy Owl. In the meantime, keep posting those Snowy's. We're off to Skagit Flats to see if we can find some.

Bob Harper






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