San Juan Island Birding

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I started my day a bit in a haze from the late night of hanging out with friends.  I had a sales rep coming into town and it was best to get things moving so I would be awake when he got off the ferry.  

Soon as we were done Monika called and we decided to head out and check out the birds.  I borrowed a spotting scope for the day and it was so nice to have along.  

The list stood as usual with a couple of new sightings.  We saw one Western Meadowlark which we have not been seeing.  There was also a Pacific Loon messing about in Cattle Pass.  

As we traveled along the roadside we caught a glimpse of a Northern Harrier and a Red Tailed Hawk.  The Red Tail landed in a tree, so we pulled over and got the scope set up.  The Red Tail was one from the pair I have been seeing on my runs.  I am pretty sure they have a nest in there area.  Later we were able to locate the other mate.  It was a nice Rufous Morph.  

It was a pretty relaxing day and there was not better way to spend Darwin Day.  Looking at birds, thinking the inspiration Darwin drew from simply investigating beaks of Finches.  Pretty amazing..

ANYWAY!  Happy 200th Darwin.

Here are a couple of picture of one of the Red Tailed Hawks.  I took the images through the scope, so they are a little fuzzy.



Click on the images to enlarge.

Hope everyone is having a good night.

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