Hello, Tweets

Following is the April report of turkey vultures in Washington and British
Columbia:

01 - kettles of 13 and 18 over the Dungeness River, Sequim
02 - 1 at Saltspring Island, B.C.
04 - 1 at Coulee City
07 - 1 at Nanaimo (Departure Bay), first of the season
09 - 11 at Maryhill State Park, 3 at Mt. Vernon
11 - 7 at the L.T. Murray Rec. Area (Ellensburg), 1 at the Johns River
Wildlife Unit (southeast coastal), 3 at the Rail Road Ponds, south Cle
Elum, and 1 at Pt. Roberts
12 - 1 near Deary (the Palouse), 1 at Discovery Bay, and 1 at Quilcene
13 - 1 at Spokane, first of the season, and 5 at Grand Coulee, probable
returning locals
14 - 12 kettling at the Dungeness River valley, and 1 adult at the Mima
Mounds
16 - 5 at Chehalis
18 - 1 at Wenas, 2 at Scatter Creek, and 3 at Lantzville, B.C.
19 - 8 at Cle Elum, 1 at Chimacum, ~4 at Quadra Island, 6 at Mt. Erie, 3
from I-90 (?), ~5 at Cypress Bowl Park, North Vancouver, B.C., 5 at
Maryhill State Park, and 1 at Prosser
22 - 12 near Brady on SR12
23 - 2 at Kootenay Lake, B.C., first of the season
26 - ~15 east of Snoqualmie Pass
30 - 12 around the Cle Elum area

Total vultures reported for April is 167 from 25 persons/parties.

For some *perspective,* Derby Hill in north central Pennsylvania has
reported 5,231 turkey vultures so far this spring. A few other interesting
numbers: from Fort Smallwood on Chesapeake Bay, 3,562 turkey vultures this
spring plus on 3 May they also had over 3,000 blue jays fly by (and that's
not even mentioning their thousands of swallows and other good stuff!). Ah
well, perhaps we have quality vultures here in the northwest rather than
numbers.

Many thanks to all of you sending reports or mentioning turkey vultures on
Tweeters. It is much appreciated. Stuff is still migrating, so don't
hesitate to send a report if more vultures are seen heading north or nesting.

Regards, Diann

Diann MacRae
Olympic Vulture Study
tvulture at halcyon.com