Boistfort, an agriculturally-dominated valley between the low hills owned by Weyerhaeuser and the Campbell Group (I'm told). I hadn't been there before, until Tuesday, October 10th. There's a cemetery in the valley and it was there that a light-breasted merlin flew in to perch. A turkey vulture soared in the distance. The merlin sat perhed atop a fir, for about 15 minutes, allowing good views on a day when everything was brightly lit by a welcome October sun. Back to the north a couple of miles, a white-tailed kite flew over, circled and landed in a snag. A red-tailed hawk soared and a Cooper's hawk flew past. Two kestrels landed across the road.

It seemed a raptor rich area. Both Steller's jays and Scrub jays were really working over the nut-bearing trees in the area, both walnut and Oregon white oak. There were savannah sparrows here and there. I didn't notice a whole lot else. I was supposed to be focused on finding evidence of remnant prairie plant communities and potentials for conserving blocks of habitat.

I think this might be a good place for birders to drive through once in a while. The Cowlitz prairie ecozone (or whatever you want to call it) seems under-explored.

Kelly McAllister
Washington Fish and Wildlife
Olympia, Washington
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