“Nature is just one big restaurant.” –Woody Allen
Here’s a young Red-tailed Hawk eating a small brown rodent with a three-inch bare tail. Perhaps a rat. It was only one of the dining experiences our group of birders witnesses today on Sauvie Island.
We saw an immature Bald Eagle finishing off a luncheon of raw duck.
And we watched amazed as another young Bald Eagle soared back and forth across an arm of one lake making runs at Cackling Geese on the surface. Eventually he landed in the water and grabbed one of the Cacklers. Then he lifted himself and the goose off the surface and flew to a nearby post. There he began what looked liked the process of killing and eating. But suddently there was s flutter of wings and the goose flipped off the post, out of the eagle’s grasp and into the lake again. Three more eagles flew into the scene, including one adult. It soon dispatched the youngsters and made a couple flights to try to recapture the goose for itself. Failing, the adult eagle rested on the post. The goose was clearly in shock at its near fatal experience. But it slowly recovered from the shock of near-death and slowly, calmly paddled away. It amazingly did not appear to be physically injured.
Adult Bald Eagle soaring down toward lake where thousands of Snow Geese and hundreds of Cackling Geese were swimming about.
And here’s the result of that assault:
We saw dozens of Sandhill Cranes flying into one section of fields to find their first meal of the day: 
We saw a female Purple Finch pulling seeds off an evergreen. Pintails, Wigeons, Green-winged Teal and other dabblers plied the muddy lakes, bottoms up and heads down for the good pond muck they prefer. Later at Scappoose Bottoms we saw more feeding ducks. This time there were dabblers plus Ruing-necked, Lesser Scaup and Common Mergansers diving for fresh flesh. Then the alpha diner sped past, a Peregrine cruising for an available duck or shorebird.
One couple on this PIB trip said they got eight lifers this first day out.
Location: Upper Sauvie’s Island
Observation date: 1/22/10
Notes: Birds seen by some in our group: Northern Shrike, Cooper’s Hawk, House Sparrow
Number of species: 54
Snow Goose 2000
Ross’s Goose 3
Cackling Goose 4000
Canada Goose 25
Tundra Swan 40
Gadwall 2
Eurasian Wigeon 1
American Wigeon 400
Mallard 50
Northern Shoveler 8
Northern Pintail 150
Green-winged Teal 240
Green-winged Teal (Eurasian) 1
Ring-necked Duck 60
Lesser Scaup 8
Bufflehead 1
Hooded Merganser 5
Common Merganser 4
Great Blue Heron 8
Great Egret 1
Bald Eagle 10
Northern Harrier 5
Red-tailed Hawk 14
Rough-legged Hawk 2
American Kestrel 10
American Coot 10
Sandhill Crane 600
Mew Gull 25
Ring-billed Gull 40, Herring Gull 1
Glaucous-winged Gull 2
Eurasian Collared-Dove 6
Mourning Dove 2
Short-eared Owl 1
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker (Red-shafted) 3
Black-capped Chickadee 4
White-breasted Nuthatch 3
Bewick’s Wren 2
Golden-crowned Kinglet 6
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 2
American Robin 20
European Starling 150
Spotted Towhee 2
Fox Sparrow 2
Song Sparrow 3
White-crowned Sparrow 6
Golden-crowned Sparrow 40
Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) 15
Red-winged Blackbird 40
Western Meadowlark 6
Brewer’s Blackbird 25
Purple Finch 3
House Finch 4
Location: Scappoose Bottoms
Observation date: 1/22/10
Number of species: 17
Gadwall 140
Mallard 15
Northern Shoveler 2
Northern Pintail 45
Green-winged Teal 75
Ring-necked Duck 20
Lesser Scaup 15
Common Merganser 2
Great Blue Heron 1
American Kestrel 1
Peregrine Falcon 1
Killdeer 4
Dunlin 12
Mew Gull 16
Ring-billed Gull 4
Glaucous-winged Gull 1
White-crowned Sparrow 8
Harlequin couple on the rocks along Hood Canal. Photo by Jeannie Mitchell.
Male Olds… Long-tailed Duck cruising the yacht harbor at Sequim, Washington. Photo by Ms Mitchell.
A Glaucous-winged Gull struggles to get up enough speed to show its disapprobation of an adult Bald Eagle. The eagle seemed to be carrying a Coot in its talons. This action shot by Ms Jeannie Mitchell.
Red-tailed Hawk dining on fresh rodent, Sauvie’s Island, Oregon. Photo by Ms Mitchell.
Trumpeter Swans in flight, Sauvie’s Island, Oregon. Photo by Ms Mitchell.
Partnership for International Birding 