Subject: [Tweeters] Ferry County Peregrine Falcon and Swainson's Hawk
Date: Fri Jul 10 09:46:26 PDT 2020
From: plkoyama at comcast.net - plkoyama at comcast.net

Tweets,
David and I poked around Ferry County on Wed 7/10 and Thurs 7/11. We missed many of the Code 1/easy (ha ha) birds we were seeking such as Vesper Sparrow, Canada Jay, and GC Kinglet (insert sad face emoji) in spite of prancing around areas where eBird listers had indicated potential success. We do miss the finer details that Tweeters posts often provide.

We came across a couple of surprise Code 5 raptors on 7/10, including a Swainson's Hawk on Silver Creek Rd and a Peregrine Falcon on Bridge Creek Rd. We were alerted to the SWHA by loud bird calls from our open window and a screeching noise I thought might be a "baby" raptor, but was the response to being mobbed-;a sound that IBird Pro calls a "keeeeooo call." We saw it perched and watched it take off, while making the typical SWHA call. The area was wooded on the south side of the road, with a steep, sloping field on the opposite side, probably 10 or 12 miles east of Inchilium. Not far from there, in an area of tall conifers, we had a pair of Code 3 Pine Grosbeaks.

The Peregrine Falcon, also 7/10, was seen at its nest on a rock face full of holes less than a mile from the bridge and not far off Hwy 21. We had stopped to play for Canyon and Rock Wren (no luck) and I kept hearing a sound like the wind blowing through wires, but there was neither wind nor wires. David saw a falcon fly in and both of us spotted it feeding a dark young in one of the rock cavities. This pock-marked rock face has a number of vertical seams, and this seam was to the right of the lone conifer at the center of the top. The nest is in a crescent-shaped cavity to the right of the seam, in the rock face that has more than a dozen holes. We didn't get a timely scope on the birds, but thought it looked good for a Peregrine, as opposed to a Prairie, and this was confirmed by further calls, which iBirdPro describes as "Screeh." The bird flew off over the top of the cliff, and we waited around for several minutes, but guess it takes a while to catch suitable prey!

Other fun birds on 7/11 were a flock of 20 Red Crossbills feeding on the gravel drive at the CCC Camp Historical Site near the sculpture of the worker (more damaged every trip-;now he's missing his pick, along with the fingers on one hand.) This must be good gravel, as when we stopped there in 6/2019 there were a dozen Evening Grosbeaks picking away at the same area! We also had a lone baby Barrow's Goldeneye on Fish Lake off Gold Creek Rd/Rd 53 and 7 Common Loons-;2 on Ferry Lake, 2 on Long Lake with 2 young, 1 on Fish Lake.

It was a good trip for us with several new county birds and good weather.
Penny Koyama, Bothell

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