A red-tailed hawk’s journey to Orcas Island

||| FROM RUSSEL BARSH for KWIAHT |||

A young female Red-Tailed Hawk trapped at SeaTac Airport and later released in the Skagit Valley has been spotted near West Sound. It may be the first relocated bird to make its way from the mainland to the San Juan Islands.

The SeaTac Raptor Strike Avoidance Program has relocated hundreds of birds since 2001 in an effort overseen by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reduce collisions with aircraft . Similar programs are underway at the Portland and Vancouver, BC, international airports. Hawks from SeaTac are fitted with a conspicuous blue or yellow plastic tag pinned to their wing (a patagial tag), and are released in the Skagit Valley.

The Red-Tailed Hawk seen at West Sound was born earlier this year, and was trapped with a nestmate near the airport. The birds were released seven miles apart near Anacortes, where they were seen repeatedly this summer according to Port of Seattle biologist Alex Lauber and Anacortes-based bird-bander Jeff Kidd. Their blue wing tags are marked 2B and 3B.
Not long after both birds were photographed hunting rabbits near the Anacortes ferry terminal at least one of them reappeared on Orcas.

If you see one of these birds, or another raptor with a blue, yellow, or white patagial tag, be sure to make a note of the tag color and number as well as the location, date and time. Take a photograph in which the tag can be clearly seen, if possible. Then share your observation. You can send an email to Wingtaggedhawks@portseattle.org — and also enter your sighting in the national banded-bird database at Reportband.gov

Kwiaht would also like to hear from you. We are interested in what kinds of raptors and other predators travel between the mainland and the islands! Contact us at info@kwiaht.org.

Photo credit: Caleb Murphy