Hi, Tweets

Since it's Labor Day I figured I should do something mildly
labor-intensive. What better thing to do than a turkey vulture report. Not
too many anecdotal doings outside of snacking on road kills and the usual
soaring, kettling, and perusing the ground. Numbers are starting to build
up just a bit, however. The early ones getting out before the possibility
of El Nino, perhaps?

One of the most interesting comments was that of the roosts in British
Columbia, near Shuswap Lake. Rick Howie reports that, traditionally, salmon
arrive at Scotch Creek sometime after the first week of August. Since
vultures seem to be on the increase in the area, perhaps the salmon would
be a tempting attraction. This area is one of the fartherest north from
which I receive reports.

In just a couple weeks we will be at Salt Creek awaiting the influx from
Vancouver Island - always an outstanding sight (but no guarantee of what
day or hour). Hundreds of turkey vultures arriving together at our northern
Olympic coastline is impressive, to say the least. Please keep sending
reports from areas that you may be visiting; they'll all be welcome.

Turkey vultures reported from British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon for
August 2002:

01 - 1 soaring over Fall City; 1 flying at eye level at Littlerock; 1
"looking for something to eat" at Littlerock; 2 over the Gibsons airport, B.C.
02 - 1 at Joyce
03 - 1 sitting in the middle of the Dabob-Coyle Road; 3 circling over
Sequim; 12 north of Enumclaw; 3 over Kitchen-Dick Road
04 - 20 circling along the southern edge of Fisher Island (west of
Longview); 3 north of Stanwood; 17 kettling east of Padilla Bay; 2 circling
over the Samish River Bridge; 3 thermalling north of Sayward, V.I./B.C.
05 - 1 over Kelowna, B.C.; 1 east of Sequim
06 - 1 adult over CP Rail's intermodal yard, Pitt Meadows, B.C.; 2 adults
at Haney, B.C.
08 - 1 over Fat Smitty's (Discovery Bay); 1 near the Barker Ranch in West
Richland
09 - 1 at Cliffdell; 2 above Roberts Creek, B.C.; 1 at Joyce
10 - 1 adult over Pitt Meadows, B.C.; 1 adult over Haney, B.C.; 1 west of
Gold Bar; 1 at Nisqually NWR; 2 circling a meadow northeast of Reardon; 1
above Nile Creek off SR410
11 - 2 "goofing off and soaring" over Washington Harbor; 1 adult over Port
Coquitlam, B.C. rail yard; 3 cruising the Skagit WRA, one being harassed by
a falcon spp.; 1 soaring near Ocosta
12 - 1 feeding on a small carcass in Mt. Vernon
13 - 1 over Mt. Vernon; 2 feeding on the same carcass with 3 crows
(watching) in Mt. Vernon; 1 at Joyce
17 - 2 floating over property near Mt. Vernon; 3 soaring high above
Dugualla Bay; 1 at Joyce
18 - 5 eating road kill just east of Clallam Bay; 1 flying over Port Susan
NC property; 1 soaring over Anacortes
19 - 5 kettling near Enumclaw; ca. 2-3 near Fort Casey; 1 over the Joyce
General Store
20 - 1 at the Hoquiam sewage treatment ponds
21 - 1 over the Similkameen Valley, B.C.; 4 near Enumclaw
23 - 1 at Reifel Refuge, B.C.; 5 along Brady Loop; 2 west of Port Angeles;
1 near Shelton; 1 north of Hoquiam
24 - 1 south of Mt. Vernon; 1 north of Stanwood; 1 south of Ocean Shores; 2
circling over the Dosewallips River; 2 near Bonney Lake
25 - groups of 4, 10, 12, 14, 4 moving down the valley, east to west, near
Startup; 1 north of Tokeland; 1 west of Cle Elum; 1 near Easton
26 - 3 near Bonney Lake; 2 near Satsop; 2 south of Aberdeen; 2 near Johns
River; 2 near McCleary; 1 near Grant Narrows, B.C.
27 - 17 kettling over Enumclaw; 5 near Bonney Lake soaring, then moving
southward
28 - 14 riding thermals a little north of the Tokeland marina
31 - 6 at the Cowlitz Trout Hatchery; 1 near Clallam

"August" - 6 roosting near the native village of Neskain, near Chase, B.C.;
10 perched in dead trees at the mouth of Scotch Creek which empties into
Shuswap Lake

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/