Tweets - I'm passing this on from Stuart Johnston. Please direct responses to
him Stuart at sflj at yahoo.com. == Michael Hobbs


The 4th annual Early Winter Raptor Survey of the Columbia Hills Important Bird
Area will be taking place on 10 December 2000, Sunday; we will meet at the Lyle
cafe at 7:00 a.m. to pick up any stray participants that show up at the last
minute. I would much prefer to hear in advance from potential participants so I
can plan ahead on how to deploy them. The Columbia Hills IBA will be completely
covered. It extends from the Cherry Orchard trailhead on hwy 14, at the 1st
pullout e. of the Lyle tunnel, east to the mouth of Rock Creek; the n. boundary
is the Centreville Hwy and Hoctor Rd. and the s. boundary is the Columbia
River, excluding the Dallesport Peninsula s. of hwy 14 (but including
Horsethief L. State Pk. and Spearfish Lake on the e. part of the peninsula).

I am the contact person: (509)493-3363, leave message or my e.mail address
sflj at yahoo.com.

This count was initiated in early Dec. '97 and is an ongoing project of the
Columbia Gorge Audubon Soc.; we are attempting to learn all we can as wind
power proponents are planning to erect wind "farms" in this raptor rich
Important Bird Area. The four most recent early and late winter surveys
averaged 256 raptors over the past two winters. We regularly find a pr. of
peregrines in the area where Enron plans a huge wind farm (breeding in the
area) and have also found wintering Ferruginous Hawks. This year we undertook
our 1st spring survey on 15 Apr. and found 170 raptors of 10 species, and a 1st
fall survey that found 70 raptors of 7 species. Additionally, Golden Eagles and
Prairie Falcons nest on the cliffs below the proposed wind farms. Thus our
grave concerns.

The Late Winter Raptor Survey of the Columbia Hills IBA will be on 3 February
2001; same contact person. The more participants, the better coverage we'll
have; WOS members are encouraged to join us--we welcome their help.
Stuart Johnston