David,

This sounds much more like an accipiter than a harrier.

Andy Stewart of Victoria, BC has had an extensive banding program
for Cooper's Hawks in that area for several years. I don't know whether or
not he has used patagial markers, but he may have done. He can be
contacted by E-mail at andy.stewart at shaw.ca .

If Jack Bettesworth's marked harriers from Whidbey Island can show up
in the Vancouver, BC area (they do), Andy's Cooper's Hawks could
certainly travel from the Victoria area to Whidbey Island!


Wayne C. Weber
Delta, BC
contopus at telus.net




----- Original Message -----
From: "David Parent" <dpdvm at whidbey.com>
To: "'Rachel Lawson'" <RachelLawson at softhome.net>;
<tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Saturday, January 28, 2006 7:44 PM
Subject: RE: [Tweeters] Harriers hunting birds in a backyard


Hi Rachel and Tweeters,

I put a post on Tweeters a few months ago about a friend of mine who
reported a brown hawk hunting small birds in her backyard. She lives less
than a mile from Lone Lake on south Whidbey - pretty good harrier habitat.
The bird was weaving in and out of the trees like a fighter jet. It had a
blue patagial wing tag. I pulled out Sibley and showed her the likely
suspects and she chose Cooper's hawk out of the lineup (but took a hard look
at the harrier). OK so far. Problem is, I later heard from Jack Bettesworth
and Bob Merrick who tag a lot of harriers. They don't know of anyone tagging
Cooper's hawks. So...looks like harriers do hunt small birds like
accipiters.

Dave Parent, Freeland, WA