Tweeters,

My wife and I headed to Skagit today to look for raptors and particularly falcons.? We had at least 3 PEREGRINE FALCONs, 1 AMERICAN KESTREL (reliably hunting near D'arcy road), and 1 PRAIRIE FALCON (a lifer for me).? Although we tried to turn an adult?COOPER'S HAWK?in Edison into the MERLIN that hangs around town, the light was fading and we had to go without seeing a Merlin, which is too bad because that Merlin had been reliable for me.?

The PRAIRIE FALCON?was scoped from Bayview Edison Road, about 2/3 of the way south toward D'arcy Road near the shallow ponds where the Peregrines display their amazing hunting techniques?while picking at the huge?DUNLIN flock.? Just north of these ponds is a fence running east-west from Bayview Edison Road to Padilla Bay.? I first found the Prairie Falcon on one of the fenceposts about a third of the way to the bay, oddly with a (quite a bit larger) Northern Harrier sitting on the ground less than 6 feet away.? I easily noted the "sandy brown" cap, facial markings, and mantle/wings?at 60x on the scope, with the breast primarily whitish with some brown spots mostly at the perimeter.? I?was ready to rule?out?young Peregreine given the lack of a pale cap, the yellow eye skin, and the?color of the brown (I had seen a darker brown young Peregrine earlier in the week near the Dunlin flock).? After about 5 minutes of scoping the Prairie Falcon, it
took off to the south in fast, low flight?and buzzed a?tired Peregrine that was resting on the mud near the Dunlin flock.??The Prairie Falcon?returned north across the fence and found a?meal in the field, either a rodent or a stray bird it plunged at from above.? I watched the bird for another 30 or 45 minutes.? After eating, it mostly rested and stretched, but spent some time flying low?in the field, apparently hunting for another meal.? It was?during this time that I noted the darker contrasting "armpits" of the Prairie Falcon?leading to?the dark contrasting markings on the underwing, very un-Peregrine like.? I was very satisfied to call it?my first?Prairie Falcon without any stretch of?the imagination.? It also posed for a while longer at one point on?a fencepost, allowing me to confirm that its wingtips did not reach its tail (although they weren't far so I am not going to base my ID on this).??I looked?back at Bob
Kothenbeutel's Prairie Falcon photos from 12/27 near the same area,?and this bird?may be the same individual.? I checked back later to see if the bird was closer to the road for a photo op but a hunter's blind had sprung up in the part of the field that the?bird had been, and the bird was not within sight (or was well hidden).? Too bad.

What seemed odd to me was a NORTHERN HARRIER that was hunting for Dunlin in the big flock.? It looked clumsy compared to the wheelin' Peregrines.? It would try the Harrier hunting technique of slowly soaring above the Dunlin, dipping sideways and falling talons-first for its prey, but the Dunlins easily dispersed and seemed unimpressed.? The way they were flying to avoid the harrier also seemed different than their evasive maneuvers used when the peregrines stoop.

Also near the Dunlin flock was a gorgeous dark-morph ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK that has been perched on the telephone poles and wires in that area for at least a week.? A side trip to the Wharf Rd access on Samish Island yielded 1 male and 1 female LONG-TAILED DUCKs.

It was a very fun day.

Jordan Gunn
Bothell, WA
uwjag21 at yahoo.com