Subject: [Tweeters] 06/23 Caracara Yes/No (No)
Date: Jun 23 22:08:27 2015
From: Joshua Glant - josh.n.glant at gmail.com


Good evening,

I was in Skykomish both yesterday and today, and did not see the caracara either day. No other birders did either; the last sighting was apparently on Sunday evening between 5 and 6, when a local saw the sailing over his house on his way to a night roost somewhere.

I don't think that a lack of sightings means that he isn't here. From what I heard, this bird moves around a LOT! However, when he's around, I've also heard (and seen, on Flickr) that he isn't shy! As I jokingly told my friend this afternoon, "He practically posed for the cameras! I'd be surprised if he didn't flash a retiring grin with his beak as he flipped his crest dramatically."

The UPS man told us that he "saw the bird right past that bend [north of Mill Town], where the forest opens up a bit, sitting on an oak branch on the left side of the road. He looked really comfortable. A birder dude had his huge scope on it."

The UPS man then pointed to an enormous discarded satellite dish resting atop a rusting truck in the northwestern-most house in Mill Town, and told us how on that "famous satellite dish", the bird has perched and even walked on the grass beneath it! A birder I talked with mentioned the bird walking the trail in the forest, foraging for snakes or other foods right in front of the birders! How crazy is that!?

All this goes to show that the bird moves around a lot, but if you luck into being in the right place at the right time, you'll get the show of a lifetime.

Good birding (and good luck!),

Joshua Glant

Mercer Island, WA

Josh (dot) n (dot) glant (at) gmail.com

PS. We accidentally fatally injured a Coast Gartersnake on the Old Cascade highway a moment to the southeast of Mill Town. If the snake is still lying there tomorrow, it might provide a tasty snack for the Caracara! Worth watching for, I think.

PPS. My previous message said "Created Caracara". Oh, the perils of autocorrect! Of course all Caracaras are created. But not all of them are Crested! Ooh, here's a clever phrase:

All Crested Caracaras are crested caracaras, but not all crested caracaras are Crested Caracaras!

> On Jun 23, 2015, at 2:18 PM, Mike Charest <mcharest at wamail.net> wrote:
>
> I will be back in Washington tomorrow and have been crossing my fingers that the Caracara would stick til I got back.
>
> I just checked Ebird and see no reports from yesterday or today. Positive or negative reports from today would be appreciated.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Mike Charest
> Tacoma, Washington
> Mcharest at wamail.net
>
>
>
> Sent from my phone. Please ignore bad or non-existent punctuation, bad grammar, and spelling errors.
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