Hello Tweets,

I ran down to the Samish Flats for about 3 hrs. of birding this morning....a tradition of sorts for me on Thanksgiving. Really quite a decent day compared to the last couple of weeks, even some blue sky. Before I could even get into my car to leave the house, I looked up on 21st St. here in Happy Valley and noted the Black Merlin on perch in the doug fir in the 1100 block. I took it as a good omen.

I had all 4 of the more common falcons:
Peregrine: at least 3, maybe 4
Prairie: 1
Merlin: 3
Kestrel: 3

There are two Kestrels on Chuckanut Drive by the bonsai place in Blanchard. The third is along D'Arcy Rd. by the blueberry fields. There was a light Merlin right at the east end of Edison. Most of the falcon action (lots of it) was along Bayview Edison Rd., about half way down to D'Arcy Rd.. There are a couple of large flocks of Dunlin hanging out in the flooded fields on the west side of the road. This is a pattern I've observed for years when the tide is in and the mudflats are covered. The Samish River was very high as well. Anyway, the table was set as they say, and there was a lot of territorial competition going on between the Peregrines and the Prairie. It's always pretty exciting to watch falcons hunting these Dulin flocks. I also saw a Peregrine chasing a Merlin in a pretty wild and aggressive chase that looked like a lot more than just fun. The Merlin proved to be just a little bit more of a versatile flier and mananged to stay out of the Peregrine's reach. I can't remember seeing this kind of interaction between PEFA and Merlin.

Also, saw lots of Red-tails, including a handsome Harlan's; Rough-leggeds; many Northern Harriers; a single, quite bedraggled juvenile Cooper's Hawk; 3 short-eared Owls (west 90); and an adult Northern Shrike (west 90). The Eagle population hasn't expanded into its typical winter numbers but there were scores of Ravens all over the flats, literally wherever I looked and constantly calling back and forth.

Didn't see a Gyrfalcon, but it's early yet, right? All in all, it was a fine day for raptor watching.

Best Birding,
Joe Mackie
Bellingham