Once upon a time ago when Bowerman basin was not yet a wildlife refuge but
the camgaign was on, I hitch hiked on a National Audubon Board meeting trip
(Thanks to Helen Engle) and got to spend an afternoon with RT Peterson.
There was no boardwalk then, just a rather muddy loose path out to the bar
and we had just set up scopes when a Peregrine did a fly by, sent thousands
of Dunlin and Westerns into the sky, then pumped up and up and up, then
stooped right on top of us. The cloud of shorebirds parted and one was left
behind and the falcon hit it. The sun was coming at an angle and the
feathers that flew when the falcon hit the Dunlin were like a halo on a
angel. The shorebird fell onto the mud, the falcon swung by, picked it up,
then perched maybe 35 feet away in front of us and started plucking it. I
looked over and RT had tears streaming down his face over the magnificence
of the moment.

There is something so very powerful about predation up close and personal.

Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer, Teacher, Student
Snohomish County