Hi Tweeters,

After reading the account yesterday of birders who saw 5
species of falcons in the Samish Flats in one day, the Pilchuck Audubon
Society fieldtrip group headed up to the same area today hopeful, but with
some trepidation. The morning started off slow and cold with two or three
Kestrels and one Peregrine Falcon, both in the area northwest of Conway.

Just before noon a report came in that the almost mythical Gyrfalcon had
been spotted near the intersection of Sullivan Rd and Bayview Edison Rd,
Samish Flats, in the same area in which it had been seen yesterday. Our
group moved up there expeditiously and met Neil and Carleen Zimmerman and
some of their birding friends. They had already seen the Prairied Falcon,
also on our want list, and were hanging around in case it came back. In a
matter of 15 minutes someone in Neil's group signaled that a falcon had
shown up, but it was the Gyr! This was a lifer for many of the people in
the Pilchuck group and always a good bird for the rest of us. General
jubilation ensued.

Following that we headed to T Loop Road to try for the Prairie Falcon. One
of our group did find a Prairie Falcon there and probably has great photos.
Alas, I don't. Interesting here is that Neil Z had also found a Prairie
Falcon about the same time at the West 90, leading to the interesting
speculation that there may be 2 Prairie Falcons in the Samish Flats.

So, although we didn't match the 5 falcons of yesterday's top birders, we
did get 4. That's probably the best I will ever do, so I am pleased.

Charlotte Byers, Edmonds