Hello all,

My apologies in advance for a rather personal story; but my enthusiasm is
high, and I believe that this positive experience is worth relating.

My 12 year old son has been taking an interest in birding, so I talked him
into his very own birding binoculars for Christmas. We had our family gift
opening Saturday night, as we head out of state to visit extended family for
the real event. He was a bit dissappointed that an Xbox 360 didn't
materialize as well.

Sunday morning, before day-break, he has the new bins out and is surveying
the city lights (we overlook the Ship Canal bridge - Interstate 5 - from our
Seattle abode). This is already too good to be true; my boy is actually
interested in birds (remember the birder's lament about Pokemon and the
Pokedex - a fantasy creature field guide? That was him. Knew every Pokemon,
and invented a few of his own, but couldn't be bothered to tell a rock dove
from a house sparrow).

We're eating breakfast, enjoying our view, and virtually no birds are at the
feeder (several irrepressible black-capped chickadees). He's noting the lack
of birds, why he asks? I say there are probably accipiters lurking in the
area.

A few minutes later, I see an unusual wing beat, too big and alone for a
rock dove. We grab the bins when it lands on top of a large western hemlock.
Too far away to know - I rattle off all the large raptors I can think of as
a possibility (did I really say it was big enough to be a gyrfalcon?). It
looked robust, but didn't have a buteo attitude. I scramble for the spotting
scope, and the very cooperative, rather large, adult Peregrine Falcon
remains for a positive ID.

To cap off a wonderful experience, an adult red-tail hawk gives him an
opportunity to exercise his bins some more. Excellent view with just the
bins, no scope needed.

Persistence and modeling pays off!

Mike Patrick
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