Tweeters,

My experience in the Kamloops, BC area so far this fall has been the
exact opposite of Rick Howie's: very few Rough-legged Hawks (I saw my
first one of the fall on November 23 at Richie Lake, on Highway 5A
south of Kamloops), and near-normal numbers of Northern Shrikes.
Yesterday, not five minutes after we met Andy & Ellen Stepniewski at
Tranquille (just W of Kamloops), who were lamenting the apparent lack
of shrikes, Barry Harman and I drove past a shrike perched on the
telephone wires along Tranquille Road.

The low numbers of Rough-legs have been remarked on by virtually
everyone in southern BC, E Washington, and N Idaho, and to some extent
west of the Cascades as well. However, I can recall only one other
observers besides Rick who commented on a shortage of shrikes.

My point here is that it's risky to extrapolate from one's own limited
birding and assume that, because you have seen few of Species X, that
Species X is rare this year. When numerous observers report the same
trend, then the trend is probably meaningful. However, when one
observer reports an apparent trend, it may just reflect a very local
scarcity, or reflect poor sampling based on very few observations. A
lot of us tend to over-generalize based on our own personal sightings,
and it's a habit we should try to avoid.

As I noted before, this year's Christmas Bird Counts will give a
better idea of whether numbers of Rough-legs and Northern Shrikes are
above or below normal region-wide. At any rate, I'm glad that SOMEBODY
is seeing Rough-legs-- I can hardly find the darn birds to save my
soul!

Wayne C. Weber
Kamloops, BC
contopus at shaw.ca


----- Original Message -----
From: Rick Howie <rick.howie at shaw.ca>
To: Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>; BCINTBIRD
<bcintbird at egroups.com>
Cc: Syd Roberts <sabba at direct.ca>; Sandy MacDonald
<sandy_macdonald at telus.net>; Ralph Heinrich <rheinric at bccf.com>;
Rachel McMillen <maquinna at telus.net>
Sent: Sunday, November 24, 2002 8:43 AM
Subject: Rough-legged Hawks & other things


> Several posts on Tweeters have mentioned the dearth of Rough-legged
Hawks in
> the interior of Washington this fall.
> Around Kamloops, ( 50 degrees, 30 seconds N Latitude) numbers are
perhaps
> below average, but birds are present in typical habitats.
>
> On 3 outings within 20 km of Kamloops during the last 4 days, I have
> observed 8 different Rough - legged Hawks. In a year of greater
abundance, I
> might expect perhaps 12 in the same area. The complete lack of snow
in the
> grasslands is certainly not resulting in a concentration of the
birds into
> areas where rodents might be more available as seems to happen in
deeper
> snow years. Birds seem to be widespread and flying over long
distances.
>
> What has been more noticeable to me is the lack of Northern Shrikes.
> Yesterday, several of us explored around Kamloops in attempts to
assist
> famous Yakima birders Andy & Ellen Stepniewski in their quest to see
> shrikes, gray owl, pygmy owl, snowy owl & other northern favorites.
We
> dipped on all of their target species except for Shrike which was
seen by 2
> observers but not the Stepniewskis. One lone shrike after covering a
fair
> amount of grassland habitat is definitely below average.
>
> Bohemian Waxwings seem to be staying at higher elevations, with
several
> flocks of up to 40 birds seen above 900 m elevation. Red Crossbills
were
> quite common as flocks were encountered consistently in both spruce
& fir
> habitats. Cone crops seem to be decent.
>
> So as with every other fall birding period, it's a fall like no
other.
>
> Rick Howie
> Kamloops, BC
> rick.howie at shaw.ca
>
>