Subject: Annual Skagit Flats Hawk Census
Date: Feb 22 05:45:02 2001
From: WAYNE WEBER - contopus at home.com


Bud,

Thanks very much for posting the results of the Skagit/Samish Flats
Hawk Census. The effort put into this is impressive, and the results
are intriguing. Do you have a report, or a speadsheet somewhere, that
compares the results from different years?

For your information, we in British Columbia started doing cooperative
raptor counts in the Fraser Delta area in 1970. These counts were
started by Wayne Campbell, and have been coordinated by the Vancouver
Natural History Society. They have been carried out not once a year,
but either once a month or once every 2 months, year-round. There was
a break in coverage-- the raptor counts were dropped sometime in the
1980s and re-started in the mid-1990s-- but the amount of accumulated
information is enormous. We have counted Northern Shrikes as well as
hawks and owls, because they are predatory birds that are found in the
same areas and easily counted.

A summary report was written on the first 15 years or so of Fraser
Delta raptor counts, but I don't seem to have a copy.

For more information on the Fraser Delta raptor counts, you may
contact Jude Grass at jude.grass at gvrd.bc.ca , or Kyle Elliott at
kelliott at physics.ubc.ca . Jude and Kyle have both coordinated the
raptor counts at different times.

Keep up the great work-- it's well worth the effort!

Wayne C, Weber
Kamloops and Delta, BC
contopus at home.com


----- Original Message -----
From: Bud Anderson <bud at frg.org>
To: Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2001 8:06 AM
Subject: Annual Skagit Flats Hawk Census


> Hi Tweeters,
> We completed the twelfth annual Skagit Flats Hawk Census last
Saturday
> with excellent weather and a great turnout of volunteers (over 100
people).
> We have 27 teams surveying routes covering 158 square miles during a
two
> hour count period (9-11 am) on the Skagit and Stillaguamish River
deltas
> here in northwestern Washington.
> Many thanks to all of those who generously helped out.
> Incidentally, we would love to encourage a "sister count" on the
Fraser
> Delta by the BC birders in the future.
> Here are our preliminary results. Bob Merrick, the count
coordinator, is
> currently checking all of the survey forms for errors and will have
the
> official totals in a week or two.
>
> 1. BAEA......420
> 2. RTHA......336
> 3. NOHA.....143
> 4. RLHA........64
> 5. AMKE.........4
> 6. MERL.........8
> 7. PRFA.........1
> 8. PEFA.......22
> 9. GYRF.........2
> 10. SSHA........6
> 11. COHA......17
> 12. SNOW.......4
> 13. SEOW.....20
> 14. BAOW.......1
>
> Buteos......7
> Accipiters 1
>
> Unofficial total.......1,056
>
> As usual, the "Big Four" species made up over 90% of the totals.
> I think one of the main values of this survey is to demonstrate
what an
> unrecognized national treasure we all have in the Skagit Flats.
>
> Bud Anderson
> Falcon Research Group
> Box 248
> Bow, WA. 98232
> 360.757.1911
>
>
>