As predicted, Sunday did indeed produce sun and more birds with 167 moving
through. It was a good day for Red-tails with Coops and Shapies seesawing
back and forth with even numbers for most of the day. Peter's day was made
by his sighting of a Broad-winged and we were all encouraged by the visit
of two families from Bend with young children in tow. The morning and
early afternoon were slow but numbers continued to increase with birds
still coming past after 5:30 for a strong finish. Tortoiseshell
butterflies migrated through all day and a couple of flocks of Clark's
Nutcracker came by in addition to a small flock of Western Bluebirds. We
found it interesting that Bonney Butte (which we can see from our site) had
5 birds on Saturday to our 88 and 127 on Sunday.
2 Osprey
4 Bald Eagle
29 Sharp-shinned Hawk
21 Cooper's Hawk
32 Red-tailed Hawk
1 Rough-legged Hawk (early?)
1 Broad-winged Hawk
1 Golden Eagle
3 Merlin
1 Unid. Accipiter
1 Unid. Buteo
1 Unid. Raptor
20 TV
Observers included the ever dedicated Peter Low assisted by Chuck Gates,
Mary Ann Kruse, Mike Bogar, the Esperancillas and the Scrantons. Next week
Kim Boddie, who comprises our trail maintenance crew, will be covering for
me as I slay junipers on Hart Mountain with ONDA. Good fall birding to all,
David
