just refound the Northern Goshawk on Dry Slough Rd. here are the coordinates
48.28766,-122.35675 about 60 feet up
near 20310 dry slough road
Have photos and seen in scope with graham Hutchison
On December 26, 2020 5:22:28 PM PST, Gary Bletsch <
garybletsch at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
Dear Tweeters,
>
Thanks again to Kendall Van Zanten for getting the word out about the
>
Northern Goshawk that he found on Fir Island on Christmas Eve!
>
After Joel Brady-Power called me to say that he'd relocated the bird
>
today, December twenty-sixth, I "skipped seventh-period study hall," so
>
to speak, and raced down to Fir Island. That is to say, I quit my
>
Christmas Bird Count at 1500, to go look for the Goshawk. Luckily, it
>
was a very slow afternoon on the CBC, so Joel had done the same thing!
>
Joel saw the bird from the "Moore Road Access" on Fir Island. That is
>
the little WDFW access on Moore Road, just a few hundred meters from
>
the North Fork bridge--the bridge between Fir Island and Rexville. I
>
think that the tree where Joel saw it was close to the one where
>
Kendall had seen it two days ago.
>
By the time I got there this afternoon, the bird was gone. Joel said it
>
had flown east. Bob Kuntz drove down from his CBC area and joined me in
>
a two-car search. We drove Polson Road, where the bird had been seen by
>
Kendall and then Joel, but had no success. We then took Dry Slough Road
>
north, then took a right and headed east on Moore Road.
>
Unfortunately, Bob and I could not find the bird, so we said goodbye,
>
and Bob drove off. I took a few minutes to change out of my
>
cold-weather gear, for the drive home, and then headed east on Moore,
>
only to slam on the brakes! The Goshawk was perched in the top of a
>
tree on the side of the road, just a short distance from Moore Road's
>
eastern terminus! This tree is in the front yard of the old Skagit City
>
Schoolhouse. The house next door is a good landmark--it has many
>
Christmas decorations. The lady of the house told me that she's seen
>
this bird around her place recently, and had wondered what it was.
>
That was the same story that Joel had heard from a landowner on Polson
>
Road. There are several places in the Skagit City area where people
>
have free-range chickens. I suspect that this Goshawk will stick
>
around, the way one was said to have done on Samish Flats years ago,
>
eating a chicken a day until there were no more left--if I remember the
>
story right.
>
After I snapped a few bad photos of the Goshawk, a Northern Harrier
>
came by and started harassing it. The Goshawk took off and flew due
>
south, toward what I suspect is its sleeping quarters. There on Polson,
>
just east of its junction with Dry Slough Road, there is a natural
>
hill--the only natural bit of elevation on Fir Island. The eastern end
>
of this hill has a grove of dense conifers.
>
A good strategy for birders tomorrow would be to work "Skagit
>
City"--the entire northern quadrant of Fir Island, everything north and
>
east of Polson Road. One tactic is to scope from the Moore Road Access;
>
another is to drive the roads until you find the bird. Good luck to any
>
and all birders attempting to relocate this rare, frustratingly
>
transient bird!
>
One more thing--I think that this adult Goshawk is a female. It is a
>
big, bit bird. Joel and I agreed that it would probably kick a
>
Red-tailed Hawk's keister, if push came to shove. One would be far more
>
likely to confuse it with a Buteo, or perhaps with a Gyrfalcon, than
>
with a Cooper's Hawk or Northern Harrier.
>
Yours truly,
>
Gary Bletsch
--
Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <
http://mailman11.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20201227/32657193/attachment.html>