Hi all

Some of you may recall that I have made mention of American Kestrels (23 at
one count) congregating at North Bend BC prior to migrating, south, through
the Fraser Canyon. There has also been a few other raptors passing through
the area at the same time. Unfortunately I have never been able to spend
time birding the area so I have no idea of the actual numbers that pass
through or over the town.

One thing I have noticed is that there was never any corresponding increase
in the number of birds being reported to the Vancouver BC RBA. This puzzled
me to the extent that I brought this up with Mike Price and between us we
thought that there might be a possible migration route that leaves the
Fraser Canyon west of Hope BC and turns south through the Silver- Hope
Valley over the low pass into the Skagit Valley and continues out to the
coast following the Skagit River.

I have only been along the North Cascade Hwy once and to me the best
observation area appeared to be around or just down stream from the Ross
Lake dam.

I am not overly familiar with this area but posts from Joe Mackie (Slate
Peak in the North Cascades above Hart's Pass) and Dean Wampler (Cascade
Pass, Sahale Arm hike in the N. Cascades National Park) made me wonder if
these locations would fit into that theory.

Any comments on the movement of raptors through this area would be
appreciated.

Good birding

Roger Craik
Maple Ridge BC
rcraik at home.com