Hi Everyone,

While waiting at a traffic light along Willows Road this morning, I saw a GREEN HERON fly by only about thirty feet up which allowed a great view and a certain ID. This is either one of the very few of these birds that overwinter in the Puget Sound area or an extremely early returnee. Perhaps whatever body of water or marsh it was wintering on froze over and he was looking for open water...? He was flying in the general direction of the Sammamish River.

I ate my lunch near the 116th bridge crossing of the Sammamish River (near 60 Acres soccer fields) and while there saw an AMERICAN KESTREL fly into a tree by the slough. There has been a pair in this area off and on for the last two years and the pair last year took a serious look at a flicker-excavated cavity in a woodlot by my office as a nesting location, but decided to pass on it (a bit too small, I think). We have a kestrel-sized nest box out nearby and if we are very lucky this year, maybe they will opt for that as a nesting site.


John Tubbs
Snoqualmie, WA
johntubbs at comcast.net
www.tubbsphoto.com