Hi Everyone,

Well, Snoqualmie/North Bend's Three Forks Natural Area, where I had a very rare Swainson's Hawk the other day yielded another nice raptor today - a female Taiga MERLIN. I caught motion out of my peripheral vision and saw the bird narrowly miss a robin that dove into cover. My first thought was an accipiter, but when I put the binocs on it, there was a very nice Merlin. An image of the bird is at the following link http://www.tubbsphoto.com/-/tubbsphoto/detail.asp?photoID=6949450&cat=38975.

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