Lots of great birding on a cold, foggy and cloudy afternoon at Nisqually. Quite a few immature eagles were perched high in trees. A not-very-shy bittern was close to the path and alternately hiding in the tall grass near the twin barns. Most exciting thing was seeing two small brown birds of prey fighting with an immature bald eagle for a piece of prey. The eagle won. I would like to know what the brown birds were - my best guess is sharp shinned hawks. They were on the ground and flying up and down - towards the small side and lots of vocalizations that sounded like squeaks. Keee....keeee...keee. White underparts on the wings and tail and yellow legs. Dark/light barring across the wings and tail. The rest of the body was pretty uniformly brown.

Alison Stern
Wedgewood - Seattle