Hi, Tweets

Thanks to your continuing reports of turkey vultures we have a nice report
for the month of May. Birds were still migrating and a few groups were
reported near our fall monitoring site, perhaps on their way to head out
over the strait to Vancouver Island and points north. Nesting season
should be underway now so reports of birds anywhere are still appreciated.

Turkey Vulture sightings in the month of May, 1999, in Washington and
British Columbia:

01 -- 5 at Lummi Island; 1 at Point Roberts
02 -- 1 at Rocky Reach Dam; 3 at Quilcene; 17 on the Muckleshoot Prairie
03 -- 4 at Victoria, B.C.
04 -- 2 at Easton; 6 (no location)
05 -- 1 at Gate; 3 at the Raymond Airport; 2 near Millersylvania SP
07 -- 1 near Mabton
08 -- 1 feeding on dead calf near Toppenish NWR; 1 at Upper Peoh Point; 1
at Swauk Prairie
09 -- 1 at Damon Point
12 -- 5 near the Snoqualmie River at Falls City
13 -- 1 at Camano Island; 1 at Chehalis; 2 at Serpentine Fen, B.C.
14 -- 17 near the Elwha River (one point where we see them return in the
fall); 1 at Easton; 1 at Cle Elum;
1 at Metchosin, B.C.; 1 at Pitt Lake, B.C.
15 -- 3/6 near Chehalis; 1 at Pitt Meadows, B.C.; 7 at Gibsons, B.C.; 1 at
Pitt Meadows, B.C.; 5 between Kelso and Kalama; 7 at Langly, B.C.
16 -- 1 at Bottle Beach; 1 at Ellensburg; 1 at Cle Elum
17 -- 16 in trees near the Fraser River/Martha Creek in Langley, B.C.
18 -- 1 at Monroe; 2 at Sultan; 1 near Agassiz, B.C.
19 -- 13 in a roost at North Bend
20 -- 2 adults at Littlerock
21 -- 1 near Port Angeles
22 -- 2 near Sequim; 4 near West Nelson Siding Road (Easton area); 1
munching on rabbit in the Teanaway Valley
23 -- 2 with black bear (alive!) near North Bend, B.C.; 4 soaring near
North Bend, B.C.; 7 near Dungeness; 1 at Salt Creek (Joyce)
24 -- 2 east of Sequim
28 -- 10 in a roost at the Okanogan River delta, Brewster
29 -- 10 over the Anthropology Museum at UBC, Vancouver, B.C.
30 -- 1 at Snoqualmie Summit; 1 at Robinson Canyon; 2 at Ellensburg; 2 in
the Yakima River Canyon; 1 orth of Riverside

Again, thank you one and all for taking the time to post your sightings.
Eventually they will all find their way to a database. While turkey
vultures aren't threatened, I've always felt that keeping tabs on species
while they are healthy is by far the best method. More reports always
welcome!

Diann MacRae
Olympic Vulture Study
Bothell, Washington, USA
tvulture at halcyon.com