Hi, Tweets

Following is my official fall request letter for turkey vulture migration
sightings, etc., etc. I will be off Tweeters during the study (starting
next Tuesday), but will try to post occasional sightings from the Port
Angeles library. Please send any reports to my regular e-mail address and
I will incorporate them into the records when I return. Thanks very much
and I hope to see some of you out at Salt Creek.

Cheers, Diann

THE OLYMPIC VULTURE STUDY WANTS YOU!

TO HELP WATCH FOR TURKEY VULTURES IN 1999


Water barriers are not a turkey vulture's delight, but each year hundreds
of these large, soaring birds gather at the southern tip of Vancouver
Island. They seem to wait for just the right air currents and temperatures
to make the 12-mile, often treacherous crossing of the Strait of Juan de
Fuca. They are heading south on their annual fall migration and will meet
land, for the most part, between the Salt Creek County Park area and the
Elwha River basin on Washington's northern Olympic Peninsula coast.

You can help! If you see turkey vultures anywhere in Oregon, Washington,
or British Columbia, we would like to hear about them. The core of the
study is at the Salt Creek monitoring site, but we would like to obtain
more information about their possible routes south and about how numbers
may build up as they travel along on their migration. Other data about
roosting or nesting is also of great interest and would be appreciated.

The following are all items that would be helpful:

How many you saw
Date you saw them.
Time they were seen.
What the weather was like.
Any interesting behaviour?

This information can be a big help to researchers in establishing basic
facts about the turkey vulture's biology and migration habits.

During the seven years of the study we have censused nearly 10,000 turkey
vultures plus over 500 raptors at the Salt Creek site. We are always happy
to have visitors. Salt Creek County Park is located 16 miles west of Port
Angeles off of SR112.

Vulture observations can be sent to the coordinator, Diann MacRae at 22622
- 53rd Avenue S.E., Bothell, WA 98021, USA, e-mail <tvulture at halcyon.com>
Olympic Vulture Study
22622 - 53rd Avenue S.E.
Bothell, WA 98021 USA
mailto: tvulture at halcyon.com