February 13, 2020 began as a rainy day. By about noon I thought the rain was supposed to stop so I set out on a birding excursion. (I later learned from my wife that the rain did stop in Anacortes, but it rained on me all my way to Fir Island and back.) As I was driving along Young Road I encountered this Red-tailed hawk perched on a fence post holding a rodent it had just harvested from a farm field.

I could see a wing tag and leg band but at this point I was unable to read the wing tag due to wind blowing it up on the bird’s back.

After a minute or so the hawk flew to a nearby tree.

I was able to relocate the hawk and obtained more photos of the hawk in the tree messing with the rodent.

The hawk then flew again, but the wind was fairly strong and the hawk just soared in place just outside my car. This allowed me to get another series of photos of the hawk in the air.

This was the last photo I took, with the hawk looking down at me. I drove on, leaving the hawk to dine on its meal.

I’m guessing this hawk was probably trapped at SeaTac and relocated to the Skagit Flats. The wing tags are so the hawk can be easily identified if it returns to the airport. This isn’t the first hawk I’ve seen in that area with a wing tag.

I think I can safely say that the hawk is eating well!