Subject: [Tweeters] South Prairie/Foothills Trail,
Date: Oct 8 12:19:50 2008
From: c.wright7 at comcast.net - c.wright7 at comcast.net


Hello All,
I managed to fit in an all-too-rushed hour and a half of birding on the Foothills Trail in Pierce County this morning. Birds were everywhere with obvious movements having taken place just after this latest front passed. I started at the baseball field and park on the south end of South Prairie, where there was a tan-striped White-throated Sparrow mixed in with about 150 other sparrows. Lincoln's Sparrows were present in large numbers, some still setting down from active migration! Also nearby were 50 Yellow-rumped and 8 Orange-crowned warblers, and a late Swainson's Thrush that was flying at some altitude, circling over the town before heading north! On the west end of the town, a Lapland Longspur flew over giving both the rattle and the "pew" calls.
As I drove west on South Prairie-Carbon River Road, I ran into a flock of five Western Bluebirds working the fields. In the first patch of willows after crossing the fields were a Wilson's Warbler and a northern-type very pale gray Yellow Warbler.
Finally I had to head to class, but I couldn't resist pulling off when I saw a kettle of raptors coming off Prairie Ridge at about 10:30am. I first got on a Bald Eagle, and in the same binocular field a raptor so small I thought it had to be a Cooper's Hawk by comparison. It then circled and gave me a full view of the underside, which made it very clear that it was a Buteo with a short tail and very broad, proportionately short wings. I quickly ran and got my scope out of the back of my car, and managed to get good scope views of this juvenile Broad-winged Hawk as it soared with the eagle and a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk (which provided a great size comparison). After about 5 minutes the bird glided southward and I had to run.
All in all, well worth being a few minutes late to class!
Cheers,
Charlie Wright
Bonney Lake, Washington