Hi Tweets, I drove to the end of Boe Road yesterday looking for nothing in particular . The hunters were out in force with their decoys mixed among the Trumpeter Swans and Snow Geese. Shot gun fire occasionally broke the rythum of my thoughts.Out over the bay a large flock of Dunlin flew this way and that way in an undulating flow, reminding me of skater on ice. Snow Geese calling out as they rose?into the air and then settled back down. ?In front of me just to the north of the newly done dike at the Nature Conservancy property a lone Great Blue Heron stood quietly. The Heron caught my eye when it reached down and picked up a large rodent, perhaps a Vole.?The rodent?had a short tail and was brown colored on it's back and looked to be 6" +/- long. The Heron had the victim by the nose as it thrashed around in mid air trying to get loose but with no success . A moment later as the poor animal was still thrashing the Heron swallowed it whole. So it begs the question in my mind, what happens when a rodent is being swallowed, does it try to bite its captor? Do they drown? I thought this would be a slow way to die. Any one know what happens when a live creature is swallowed?

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A few highlights?over by Stanwood just over the bridge to Camano Island a Northern Flicker and along Eide Road a Northern Harrier, Rough-Legged Hawk and a Cooper's Hawk.

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Happliy Birding,

Beth Thompson

Arlington, WA


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