Olympic Vulture Study Report #2

Prior to Saturday, 26 September, our total turkey vulture count was 331
and quite respectable. Saturday dawned a beautiful, clear warm day with
light southeasterly winds and the Canadian migration corridor door opened
wide! 1,137 turkey vultures sailed south over the Strait of Juan de Fuca
to our Salt Creek site much to the delight of weekend campers, visiting
biologists, and ourselves.

This high count far surpasses our previous daily total of 611 vultures
and is even higher than three of the yearly totals (out of seven years).
Saturday's show was spectacular and came within a 2-3 hour time span with
many of the birds close enough to "see their wrinkles" as one lady put
it. Since part of our goal is public education, Saturday's grand flight
was the perfect learning tool.

On Sunday, 27th September, 129 turkey vultures arrived and, today, Monday
the 28th, we had another 295 birds. That's 1,561 turkey vultures in
three days!!

Various other raptors are also being seen including a merlin which put on
quite a show chasing our local kingfisher, redtails, sharpshins, osprey,
bald eagles and northern harrier. Thirteen black turnstones also arrived
and the first mew gulls of the season were noted. Very large flocks of
ducks have been active along the strait, most heading in toward Puget
Sound.

So, Tweeters, look up! Some of those 1,500+ turkey vultures may pass
over your area soon (don't forget to report them!).

Note: All figures are unofficial at this posting.

Regards, Diann MacRae
Olympic Vulture Study
tvulture at halcyon.com

The Olympic Vulture Study monitoring site is located at Salt Creek County
Park, 16 miles west of Port Angeles off SR112. This fall's sponsors are
the Baillie Fund of Canada and the Northwest Ecological Research Institute.