Birders:
Yesterday, as I left work for home at a little after 4:00 PM, driving along Hot
Lake Lane (a road that forms the boundary of Ladd Marsh Wildlife Area) I saw a
large group of hawks with one bird of greater size than the others. I stopped
to investigate what looked like a mobbing. What I saw was about 15 Northern
Harriers flying with a Red-tailed Hawk but they weren't really mobbing it. Now
and then one would fly at it halfheartedly but this didn't look like serious
attempt to chase the red-tail. As I watched I saw more birds joining the
"flock." More and more Harriers appeared out of a slate grey sky in fading
light. I started to leave once but saw another bunch coming so I stopped and
watched again. They did not form a tight bunch but were loosely associated
over about a 20 acre area. My final count was 50+ Northern Harriers, 1
Red-tailed Hawk and 1 Rough-legged hawk.
I am at a loss to explain this. We "always" have harriers on the wildlife area
over winter but generally not in high numbers. That depends on the weather - I
suspect as the weather worsens and hunting is harder more move on to easier
pickings as evidenced by fewer observations. We do not have particularly nasty
weather that would have driven them in nor were they clustered around a prey
source. I have seen (presumed) family groups of harriers flying together in
late summer and I have seen groups in the spring as males court females. I
have never seen numbers like this.
M. Cathy Nowak
Certified Wildlife Biologist(r)
Ladd Marsh Wildlife Area
59116 Pierce Rd
La Grande, OR 97850
541-963-4954
