Hi Folks:
I was scouting today at Tukwila Pond near the South Center Mall. About 11am I went to the north entrance to the park. I turned south off of Strander from the first light to the east of S Ctr Parkway. There is a sign there to Tukwila Pond Park. As I entered the park, there was a Hermit Thrush w/ some robins, and two Yel-rumped Warblers. At the pond there were about 10 Hooded Mergansers, 8 Ruddy Ducks, 14 N. Shovelers, 8 P-b Grebes, Mallards, Coots, 2 D-c Cormorants, and a few Buffleheads. No Canvasbacks yet. Where are they?
An adult Cooper's Hawk flew through and out to a parking lot. A little later I saw a Cooper's Hawk, possibly the same bird, chasing a ball of Rock Pigeons right over the S Center Mall big parking lot. It was quite the show, and I bet not one person in the lot noticed the action.
At 2pm, I was at Boeing Ponds. There were two adult Peregrine Falcons on top of the big bldg that is at the SW end of the ponds. I have never seen more than one falcon there before. The birds perched near each other, and would fly out and back near each other. While perching on the bldg, one bird would "Bow" or get real low, while looking at the other one. They each did that while looking at the other bird. Then the Peregrine that we have been seeing at the ponds, a large bird w/ salmon-colored underparts, flew to her special perch which is inside the groove that runs around the bldg about 6 feet down from the top. She likes to perch in the groove, right at the top of a vertical black line that runs up to the groove. It is good camoflage. The male flew into the groove over at the corner, and slowly approached her, crouching low "bowing" as he did. He got within about 6 feet of her. The female had light auriculars and a full crop. The male has an almost-full hood, and he did not have a full crop. Eventually he flew when I looked away.
Neither of the birds had leg bands.
Yours, Carol Schulz
Des Moines
carol.schulz50 at gmail