Hi Everyone,
Took advantage of a good day AND having some time available to me for a change
lately, to get out and do one of my raptor surveys for the East Cascades
Audubon Society's winter raptor survey project. The area covered today was
bounded on the north by Hwy 34, on the west by I-5, on the south by
Brownsville, and on the east by the foothills on the east edge of the valley
floor. I spent 3 hours 52 minutes covering 76.1 transect miles and came up
with the following:
Red-tailed Hawk 50American Kestrel 58Northern Harrier
5Bald Eagle 32 adults, 9 sub adultsRough-legged Hawk
6Merlin 1Prairie Falcon
1Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Other non raptor type birds found included one SAY'S PHOEBE on Morgan Dr about
half a mile east of Seven Mile Ln (this bird was in the same place during last
months survey when I was accompanied by Bill Tice) and two really large groups
of gulls located on Seven Mile Ln just north of Boston Mill Rd and along Hwy 34
near the intersection with Columbus Dr between Hwy 99 and I-5. Did not have
time to stop and check them out but I bet there are a few goodies in these
flocks worth checking for :)
After completion of my survey, I drove over to the intersection of McLagen Rd
and Seward Dr to view the Bald Eagle roost site at dusk. I arrived at 4:05 and
my first count revealed 35 birds in the roost already. Numbers steadily grew
over the next hour and my last count at 5:12 revealed 93 Bald Eagles in place,
nice :) An added treat were an estimated 16 SHORT-EARED OWLS that flew west
over McLagan to hunt the field on the north side of Seward Drive. There were a
few other groups of people enjoying this show as well, I didn't get their names
:) Fun day in the field!
Jeff FleischerAlbany, OR
