I usually answer the e-mail at the Seattle Audubon office, and this week
there was an interesting message from some people who live in the
Seattle Hills neighborhood in Snohomish County. They said they have a
pair of Northern Harriers that hunts birds at the feeders in their
backyard, and wanted to know how they could discourage this behavior. I
asked them if they are sure the hawks are harriers, since Cooper's Hawks
seemed more likely, but they described the facial disk of the harriers
(initially, they thought the first one they saw was an owl), and said
that one of the hawks is gray.

I have never heard of harriers hunting birds in a suburban backyard.
Has anyone else observed this?

Rachel Lawson
Seattle
RachelLawson at softhome.net