Hi, Tweets

Turkey vultures have finished their migrations by now and most are
well-settled into nesting. It won't be long until we see some family groups
soaring about. Be on the lookout for the young which have a dark grey, not
red, head. Also watch for nests, but please don't go near them; vultures
are very disturbable (and you don't want to learn about projectile vomiting!).

Turkey vultures reported in Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia during
May, 2002:

01 1 at Nisqually NWR; 4 at Bottle Beach; 1 near Grant Narrows, B.C.
03 2 west of Raymond; 2 at the Raymond airport
04 1 over the rail yard in Port Coquitlam, B.C.; 2 at Bunker Creek Road,
Lewis County
05 2 west of Elma; 2 near Aberdeen; 3 east of Aberdeen; 1 over the rail
yard in Port Coquitlam, B.C., being seen regularly; 8 over the Hope golf
course, B.C.; 12 where the Wallace River flows into the Skykomish River
07 10 soaring in the Bald Hill area of Thurston County; 2 at March Point;
1 south of Conway
08 3-4 at Scatter Creek WHA
09 1 at Weir Prairie
10 2 at Morton; 3 at Randle; 3 at Packwood; 1 adult over North Bay Park at
Ocean Shores
11 1 at Gleed; 7 at Rimrock Lake; 8 at Clear Lake; 2 in the Yakima Canyon;
1 sitting on the top of a small cottonwood tree in Yakima County posing for
photos; 4 on Guemes Island; 3 west of Cle Elum; 4-5 flying near Ellensburg;
1 soaring over Spencer Island; 3 hunting at Ridgefield NWR
12 1 resting in a snag at Exit 62/I-90; two soaring over the foothills
near Longview
13 1 at the edge of Umptanum Road; 2 soaring north of Selah
16 1 south of Toledo; 3 at the Sediment Dam in Cowlitz County; 1 at the
Weyerhauser Forest Learning Center, CC
17 1 circling low southwest of Littlerock; 1 west of Richland along the
Yakima River
18 3 south of Damon Point; 1 at the Sediment Dam/Wetland; 2 at the Toutle
River bridge/Hwy 505; 1 adult the rail yard regular soaring over the
freight cars at Port Coquitlam, B.C.; 2 at Graymarsh; 1 flying just above
the trees near Kendall; 1 over old Hwy 97; 1 over Soda Lake, Columbia NWR;
1 at Turnbull NWR; 2 near Wenas Creek
19 10 over downtown Mt. Vernon; 6-8 in the Maple Bay, B.C. region; 6
soaring over Grant Narrows Park, B.C.; 1 near Biggs, Oregon; 1 near
Shaniko, Oregon; 2 at Redmond, Oregon
20 5 at different sites on the Malheur NWR
21 1 cruising at about 30' over Logy Creek Canyon, southwest of Toppenish;
2-3 flying up and down the beach at Gibsons, B.C.; 1 soaring over Surrey,
B.C.; 10 at Malheur NWR
22 2 over a cranberry field east of the Pitt River, B.C.; 11 in the
Hammond Bay area of east Nanaimo, B.C.; 3 near Malheur NWR Headquarters; 3
near Princeton, Oregon; 2 near Crane, Oregon; 2 near Burns, Oregon; 7 at
the Satus WRA
23 1 over the Maplewood Conservation Area of North Vancouver, B.C.
24 2 circling southwest of Littlerock; 4 near Burns, Oregon; 1 soaring low
over Dry Creek Canyon, Yakima County
25 2 lazily circling central Bainbridge Island
26 2 soaring near Lantzville, B.C.
27 1 being hassled by crows in Lantzville, B.C.; 1 over Ellensburg
28 -- ? vultures soaring overhead at the Buena Vista ponds, Malheur NWR;
"dozens" on a tower near the P-Ranch, Malheur NWR; 6-8 present most days at
the Rotary Club trail on the Chilliwack/Vedder River, B.C.; 2 on the beach
west of Gibsons, B.C.
29 3 cruising in very strong wind gusts near Dry Creek Canyon south of
Toppenish
30 1 at Easton; 1 at Selah; 2 at Hardy Canyon; 12 at Grant Narrows Park,
B.C.; 5 in Vancouver, B.C.
31 1 at Nisqually NWR; 4 over the Nestle plant near Carnation; 1 soaring
high over Dry Creek Canyon

I appreciate all the turkey vulture reports sent in. We will be at Salt
Creek this fall for the tenth year of the Olympic Vulture Study and are
hoping the weather cooperates.

Keep looking up!

Cheers, Diann

___________________________
Diann MacRae
Olympic Vulture Study
22622 - 53rd Avenue S.E.
Bothell, WA 98021
mailto: tvulture at vei.net
http://users.vei.net/tvulture/