Subject: June 2001 Turkey Vulture report - long
Date: Jul 2 22:21:31 2001
From: Diann MacRae - tvulture at halcyon.com


Hi, Tweets

This will be the month to look for vulture youngsters! They have the dark
greyish heads, not red. Evidently turkey vultures are doing well or I've
got you all spotting them more, because reports are good. I appreciate all
of the comments, especially on behavior, that are sent along with the
numbers. It's giving us a pretty good overview of turkey vulture
demographics in the Pacific Northwest. While this started as a specific
migration study, it has branched into a biological scan of the turkey
vulture's many characteristicss. Keep those reports coming!!

Turkey vultures reported for the month of June 2001 for Washington, British
Columbia, and Oregon:

actually, here's a May report, submitted late: 60 turkey vultures (!!) were
counted on the Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society's Bird-a-thon on 12 May .
.. . now, back to June

02 -- 1 at Ridgefield NWR; 2 at Easton; 1 south of Wanapum Dam; 2 at
Robinson Canyon; 2 north of Liberty; 1 circling Florence, Oregon; 1 at
Swawilla Basin
03 -- 3 at Liberty; 4 west of Easton; 2 at Grant Narrows RP in Pitt
Meadows, B.C.
04 -- 10 near the Port Angeles airport; 1 near Kalama; 1over the Fraser
River near Katz, B.C.
05 -- 1 soaring over the Manastash Ridge Trail; 1 at Gibsons, B.C. ; 5
soaring about, that didn't seem to have anywhere important to go - near
Naches Pass; 1 at Barnston Island Ferry, B.C.; 12 east of Cle Elum and
heading west
06 -- 2 at Mt. Baker; 2 soaring over the eastern edge of Ridgefield NWR
07 -- 1 over the southern end of Lummi Island; 1 over Bell Island; 1 high
over Spieden Island; 10 at Nolte State Park; 8 east of the intersection of
203/Ben Howard Road
08 -- 1 at Saddle Mountain SP, Oregon
09 -- 1 kiting in a stiff wind over Sumas Prairie east of Abbotsford; 8
near Leavenworth; 2 in Kittitas County; 2 at Liberty; 2 at Teanaway; 2 at
Blyn; 1 west of Sequim; 5 roosting on exposed stumps on a clearing hillside
near Hoko-Ozette Road; 1 northwest of Littlerock; 3 between Cle Elum and
Ellensburg; 1 over the Sechelt Airport, B.C.; 1 in Roberts Creek, B.C. (one
hopes not swimming)
10 -- 1 at Hoko-Ozette Road; 6 between MP 38/39 Clallam County; 1 near Salt
Creek; 5 at mp 54 Clallam County; 8 at Kitchen-Dick Road, Sequim; 3
possibly from Vancouver Island - spotted quite high upon arriving at the
mainland; 3 near SR 104, Jefferson County; 10 from the Matsqui Trail area,
B.C.
11 -- 7 at Brownsmead, Oregon; 2 over Leavenworth; 8 circling just south of
Discovery Bay; 5 at Gospel Rock, B.C.
12 -- 1 near Hwy 1/Boundary Road, B.C.
13 -- 1 very high southwest of Littlerock; 1 west of Gibsons
14 -- 4 over Ellensburg; 1 on telephone pole on Dodson Road; 9 swooping
over Cays Road
15 -- 6 at the debris trap at Ruby Creek, B.C.; 5 at Camas; 2 near Cape
Horn; 3 over the Rowena Plateau, Oregon; 1 (or more?) at the top of Dalles
Mountain
16 -- 2 east of Salt Creek; 5 along SR 112; 5 at intersection of 112/133
Clallam; 1 at Diamond Point Road Jefferson; 1 adult sharing lunch with a
raven south of Port Angeles; 1 at Padilla Bay Preserve; 5 at Maryhill State
Park (the ranger comments that 75 vultures roost in the park grove; others
report 25 as an average);
17 -- 2 at the Kalama exit I-5; 1 over Woodland exit I-5; 2 flying east
across Hales Pass - Lummi Island to the mainland; 1 on the ground near a
bird feeder on the Saanich Peninsula, B.C.; 2 near Victoria, B.C.; 1 over
Littlerock
18 -- 1 over mid-San Juan Island; 3 at Reifel Refuge; 5 on Grantham's
Beach, B.C. - 4 sitting on the beach, the 5th sitting on a snag.
19 -- 1 swooping around outside of Eatonville; 1 over North Surrey, B.C.; 4
near Grindstone Harbor, Orcas Island; 1 over West Sound, Orcas Island; 2
perched in roadside trees near Pitt Meadows; from 2-4 seen regularly in the
Lantzville (west of Nanaimo), B.C. area
20 -- 7 headed from Secret Cove toward Pender Harbour, B.C., could see some
red heads; 1 "herd" of TV's between Poulsbo/Lofall (at least 20)
21 -- 1 at jcn hwys 14/97 Klickitat County; 2 west of the Maryhill Museum;
6 west of Rowland Lake; 1 adult flapping south along a cliff at Ebey's
Landing, Whidbey Island; 1 north of Powell River
22 -- 4 near the 3 Crabs in Sequim, 3 trying to make themselves look like
Harriers. All were adults; 1 playing in the wind over Gibsons, B.C.;
23 -- 1 zig-zagging southwest of Littlerock; 1 west of Gibsons, B.C.; 1 at
Mixal Lake, B.C.; 1 west of Cashmere; 3 at Cashmere; 1 north of East
Wenatchee; 1 near Fort Okanogan; 1 at Omak; 1 west of Republic; 3 outside
Aberdeen; 1 over Nisqually
24 -- 3 circling over Saturna Island, B.C.; 2 over Cameron Lake Road Chelan
County
25 -- 1 at treetops south of the Olympia Airport; 1 at Leavenworth; 2 at
junction of Hwys 97/10; 2 at Easton; 6 over a house
26 -- 2 west of Tiger
27 -- 1 soaring over a Dairy Queen in beautiful downtown Haney, B.C.
28 -- 5 circling with a Bald Eagle near Cranberry Lake at the edge of
Powell River, B.C.
29 -- 2 north of Stanwood; 1 hatch year bird at Brownsmead, Oregon; 1
pirouetting on the left wing south of Olympia Airport; 1 north of Sequim; 1
sitting in a tree and 1 circling so low that a pet Schnauzer, Sgt. Schultz,
was trying to jump up and catch it - this on Gambier Island, B.C.
30 -- 4 just before Buckley; 4 at Conboy NWR

As always, thanks so much for your reports.

Cheers, Diann
___________________________
Diann MacRae
Olympic Vulture Study
22622 - 53rd Avenue S.E.
Bothell, WA 98021
mailto: tvulture at halcyon.com
http://www.halcyon.com/tvulture/