Subject: In search of raptors
Date: Sep 29 09:04:41 1997
From: Nancy Taylor - ntaylor at pacificrim.net


Tweets:

I have been on a week long camping trip in north central and central
Washington to watch raptors migrating. My intrepid traveling companion
was Joe Mackie, whose sharp eyes and raptor experience educated me more
in 7 days than in all my approx. 7 years of birdwatching.

The weather for all but the last day of the trip was ideal for camping
with a high pressure firmly entrenched. Day temperatures were in the
60's and 70's, nights 50's. Winds were constant at east northeast at
5-20.

>From Bellingham it was an easy 4 hour trip over the North Cascades
Highway, through Mazama and approx. 20 miles to Slate Peak, the highest
viewing area we encountered, at 7500'. In a 6 hour day we counted 121
raptors (reported in no particular order.)

Northern Harrier 30
Cooper's Hawk 17
Sharp Shinned Hawk 17
Peregrine Falcon 2
Res-tailed Hawk 11
Merlin 1
Northern Goshawk 1
Prairie Falcon 6
Osprey 3
Unident. Accipiter 4
Unident. Falcon 1
Unident. Raptor 6

Conspicusously absent were Turkey Vultures and eagles, although the
short time we viewed during the previous day to this count we had a good
look at a sub adult Golden being hassled by Ravens. Highlights of the
day were a dogfight between two Praire Falcons directly over our heads,
and the 3 Ospreys, who flew low enough for us to see the yellow of their
eyes as they casually swung their heads from side to side looking at us
looking at them. I also enjoyed the Ravens; there were about 7 or 8
that were present most of the time, (possible residents?) As we left
Slate Peak to return to the Meadows campground, we saw a kettle of 32-37
Ravens (counting birds in a kettle is difficult!) with a Red-tailed Hawk
at the top gettin' in on the fun.

Tiffany Mountain and the hike up Freezeout Ridge had very few raptors.
I did enjoy the small flocks of American Pipits and Horned Larks, and
Mountain Chickadees and Ruby Crowned Kinglets were everywhere. I looked
closely and thought I might have seen a Boreal Chickadee with them, but
for a lifer I feel I need a more positive ID than that. (Note to Scott
Downes: we looked for your lifer Spruce Grouse on the Freezeout Ridge
trail, no luck. Guess we will have to "put in our time" on this one, as
you have.) Most memorable at Tiffany Mountain was a walk to Tiffany
Lake. We arrived at sunset when only about 50 yards of the shorline was
in the sun. Along this shoreline was a thin snag that leaned toward the
water, and on the snag was a large Merlin who eyed us thoroughly before
disappearing into the trees. Within a minute of it's departure a
raucous Kingfisher announced to us that he had reclaimed the snag. And
to prove he had also reclaimed the lake he treated us to a successful
dive about 10 yards from the shore where we stood. He wasn't happy
about the 3 unsuccessful dives he made subsequently, and came up out of
the water screaming his displeasure. The following morning I walked
down to the quiet lake again and saw a family group of 4 Red-breased
Mergansers. The Kingfisher quietly called a good morning. On the walk
back I became surrounded on the trail and sides of the trail by some of
the free ranging cattle in the national forest. They gave me a moment's
concern (they're *big*) but after verbal coaxing they obligingly let me
pass.

We visited two Hawk Watch International sights, a new one at Cooper
Mountain and another at Diamond Head. I am amazed at the dedication of
the young raptor counters. They are enthusiastic, well trained and
happy to have visitors. It would be a little boring day after day to
sit there for 7 hours, in all kinds of weather, and with some days only
seeing around 20 raptors, some at such a distance that they have to be
classified as unidentified. I have new respect for the Hawk Watch
organization, and have more appreciation of the hard-to-come-by
statistics that they can provide.

The other notable day for raptors was at Red Top mountain, near Cle
Elum. It's the site of a fire tower that is having some renovation,
althugh I don't know why as it does not seem to be used. It's a steep
hike up from the parking lot, but a perfect raptor viewing spot. There
is a promontory facing north, and the migrants always popped up right
over it and flew directly past us. We saw 39 raptors in 5 hours:

Sharp-shinned Hawk 13
Cooper's Hawk 6
Red-Tailed Hawk 8
Turkey Vulture 8
Northern Harrier 1
Peregrine Falcon 1
Northern Goshawk 1
Unident. Accipiter 1

Again eagles were conspicuously absent. I enjoyed watching a Townsend's
Solitaire flycatching at the top, and wished that a small flock of
Swallows (maybe Swifts?) that flew through would have stopped for a meal
on the millions of flying ant thingies that were "bugging" us at the top
(they didn't bite though, just liked to get in my hair.)

On the way back to Bellingham we could not resist a short drive through
our beloved Skagit Valley "flats", where we counted another 16 raptors
in about an hour. Highlights were 8 Turkey Vultures in a kettle over
Samish Island, and a rasty Merlin who was hell bent to terrorize
everything within a few miles.

During the whole trip 65 species were seen, 255 raptors, and since this
was the focus of the trip, I call it a great success.

Nancy Taylor
Bellingham, WA
ntaylor at pacificrim.net