Subject: [Tweeters] 5 Falcon Day in Skagit - 2/15
Date: Feb 15 13:34:36 2009
From: Brendan McGarry - mcgbre04 at gmail.com


Hey Tweeters -

sorry for the late post, as I know there are folks
that would be anxious to hear about a Gyrfalcon on the west side!

This Saturday while participating in the annual Skagit Flats Winter Hawk
Count for the Falcon Research Group my party and I were able to pull off a 5
Falcon Day! It was the first for several in the group and included a lifer
for two of the group! An early PEREGRINE FALCON along I-5 started off our
day. Another PEREGRINE FALCON was seen at the end of West Edison Ln. Our
second falcon was the MERLIN that has been frequenting Edison, seen from the
parking lot of the Grade School there (a HARLAN'S HAWK was seen in the
cottonwood stand directly south of the school as well). While scanning from
the school for other raptor species, I decided to spend a second looking at
the swans in the nearby fields (looking towards Chuckanut Drive/Highway 11)
and happened upon a hunk of a gray falcon sitting on a fence post!

We watched the GYRFALCON from a distance and approached along side it on the
baseball field. We got incredible looks as the bird (presumed a female
based on a brief size comparison to the nearby swans) sat preening and
scanning the surrounding area. She then picked up and sped low across the
field towards highway 11, surprising a group of mallards on a pond, took a
nice little stoop (missing by a bit), and took off to a large cotton wood
along highway 11! Needing to finish our route we came back a bit later but
no avail (there were quite a few Bald Eagles around). I suspect anywhere
around Edison is probably a good place to spend time looking.

After a wonderful talk by Ursula Valdez on her research with Forest-falcons
in the SE Peruvian Amazon at the post-counting gathering , we decided we
should attempt a 5 falcon day. After a bit of frustrating loops between the
West 90 and the intersection of Sullivan and Bayview-Edison Rd we finally
managed a PRARIE FALCON in a typical spot sitting on a telephone pole along
Bayview Edison. A perusal of the housing developments near the Skagit
Airport found us an AMERICAN KESTREL (a female sitting at the top of a
Douglas fir of all places)!

A beautiful day!

-Brendan McGarry
Seattle, WA
mcgbre04 at gmail.com
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