Jocelyn Curry

Coffee at the Lighthouse Beach on Sanibel Island, Florida

How often do our field trips actually take us into a field? As I was thinking of what to title this Over Coffee, the simple congruency of this term – and what today's topic is – quietly clicked in my mind.

Yesterday I attended a two-hour class on the renowned raptors of Skagit Valley at the Padilla Bay Estuarine Research Reserve followed by a field trip to see the magnificent raptors themselves. I had everything to learn about these birds of prey, so instructor Bud Anderson's 30 years of teaching this class (!) certainly sufficed. After a brief introduction to the topic, Bud startled us by lifting up from behind the podium a restrained, juvenile Red-Tailed Hawk. He had trapped her on his way to class, fitted her with a leather hood and an "abba," a straight-jacket of sorts used to secure a bird's wings to still it for leg banding or scientific observation. It was a rare opportunity, to view a wild bird of prey up close. Bud and his assistants banded her, weighed her, recorded the data, and then the class went outside with him to release the bird. Later, while in the field, we may have seen her soaring and hunting.

The rapid flow of information given in class didn't allow me to sketch much, but I did capture a little image of the classic leather hood used to calm falcons and hawks while they are being held. The little gladiator-type topknot caught my fancy.

The Skagit fields in winter have a beauty all their own. Their colors set off by the typically gray skies, the reds, golds and greens inspire me to paint. You cannot see it in this photo, but the one Short-Eared Owl we saw is perched on a short pole in the distance.

Many of us here in our spectacular NW corner of the U.S. know the Skagit
Valley for the annual Tulip Festival. Fewer of us brave the harsh
elements of January and February to go there to view the raptors. The
discomfort is worth it. With each stop our group made, along the side of
the roads at the edge of the farm fields, we were treated to viewing, with our bare eyes, our binoculars, and scopes, the perching
and actively hunting raptors. We saw numerous American Bald Eagles, both
juvenile and adult, many Red-Tailed Hawks, Rough-Legged Hawks, one
Peregrine Falcon (a thrill), a Short-eared Owl, Northern Harriers, and
an uncommon dark morph Harlan Hawk. An increasing wind grew colder and more fierce; Bud told us that soon the birds of prey themselves would stop hunting and seek shelter, so we went our separate ways at about 1 PM, our raptor immersion experience complete.

At our last stop, at the "West 90" turn, where there is a well-used parking area for hunters and birdwatchers, I photographed a juvenile Bald Eagle.

I drove home alone after this memorable morning spent with an expert and other students keen to learn about this part of our natural world. What wonders are ours for the seeing, and for the learning. At a rest stop along I-5, I called Rick to see if he had left the espresso machine set up, as I would be home earlier than planned due to the chilling winds. Yes, he said. I warmed up over my latté shortly thereafter, feeling the glow of fresh knowledge and fresh air.