A group of raptor types have been monitoring the spring migration over
Cape Flattery for the past several years. During the past three seasons,
the group I band with in Nevada, HawkWatch Int'l has helped by providing
a trained observer.

The organizers, Weldon and Virginia Clark, are holding an organizational
meeting at their home in Sequim, WA on March 5th, 4PM - a Saturday.

Virginia is a retired (mostly) biostatistician, and Weldon some sort
of university type who among other things is a weather fanatic, and they
bring a higher level of professionalism to the count and interpretation
of the data gathered than is typical of amateur hawkwatches. Among
other things they've been studying the relationship between regional
weather systems ("storms" to us layfolk) and the migration.

As an added bonus, several thousand sandhill crane migrate past the
count site, as well - often directly overhead with boisterous
enthusiasm.

Most of the migrants are redtails, with a fair number of sharpies and
smaller numbers of other species. Nesting bald eagles can also be
observed from the site.

The migration peak is usually around April 5th, with high counts of
300-500 birds a day.

If you'd like more information on either visiting the site, or participating
as a volunteer on the project, e-mail the clarks at clark at olympus.net.

Thanks!


-Don Baccus-