Hi Tweets:
I was walking around the neighborhood about 11am today, Monday, Dec 1. The clouds
had thinned, and we actually had about 1/2 hour of sunshine just before I started the
walk. I noticed that the birds were very quiet, and I kept looking for a hawk. Even
the 4 local crows were gone, or at least silent. At 10:10, two COMMON RAVENS flew
through very casually from north to south. They were only about 30 feet up, and made
some groink calls, that sounded like they were talking to each other. The calls went
up in pitch at the end. No neighborhood birds harassed them. Common Ravens are
definitely not that common here in the Puget Sound trough. In fact I have never seen
or heard them in Des Moines, or even in the Green River Valley. I wish I had seen
them from my yard. I could claim them as a yard bird!
As I walked around toward the woods of Des Moines Creek Park, I saw a small, fairly
dark MERLIN perched up in a bare tree over the road. I walked almost under it. Its
underparts were quite rufous. It appeared to be a male columbarius. I had not seen
any other Merlins here this winter. In the past they have been here as early as
mid-October. They are uncommon, but we usually get one or two in the winter in the
Des Moines area.
Yours, Carol Schulz
Des Moines, WA
(South of SeaTac Airport, and right under the new 3rd runway flight path...)
linusq at att.net