Hi, Tweets

Looks like lots of vultures have been drifting south over Seattle lately.
Glad everyone is looking up and reporting them. How funny that they even
got mentioned on the radio - I wish I had been here to hear what was said.
And vulture humor was alive and well in your reports with them shopping at
Southcenter and Northgate, flying south to feast on leftover gubanatorial
candidates, haunting the Mariners, and continually circling over a horse's
grave day after day. Thank you for your comments!

The Salt Creek monitoring project went well, but with extreme fog on the
strait for many days of the count, numbers were down. No worry - they
evidently got over just fine, sooner or later. Our flights were all in
September even though I was there until the 7th of October. One wonders if
the island groups join with the mainland migrants. I've always thought they
meandered down, for the most part, west of Seattle, but evidently not this
year.

Following is the report for September and early October, 2003 from British
Columbia, Washington, and Oregon:

September
01 - 11 over the Monte-Brady Loop Road, 1 in central Washington; 2 roosting
in a tree at the Casimer Bar Wetland
02 - 7 circling near Columbia Lake north of Cranbrook, B.C.
03 - 1 south of Mount Vernon
05 - 1 soaring just off the Orting-South Prairie Hwy
06 - 1 doing slow circles south of Littlerock; a noticably heavy movement
south of Bandon, Oregon; 1 near Cle Elum; 1 on Hwy 82/MP5; 14 at the
Cowlitz Trout Hatchery; 2 at Green Mt. Mill; 3 at I-5/MP65
07 - 10-12 flew from the trees near the Lower Elwha River
08 - 3 working along an escarpment above the Fraser River at Haney, B.C.; 4
near Maupin, Oregon
09 - 1 at Kalama; 12 soaring over north Nanaimo, B.C.; 1 at Haney, B.C.; 1
east of Montesano; 2 south of the Chehalis River Bridge
10 - 3 sitting on fence posts near Princeton, Oregon
11 - 49 migrating along ridges near South Prairie; 2 along the Fraser River
near old Port Haney, B.C.; 7 between Joyce and Port Angeles; 2 south of
Frenchglen, Oregon
12 - 2 at Pitt Lake, B.C.; 40+ at Malheur NWR (18 on the "P" Ranch tower)
13 - 2 at Wenatchee Confluence SP; 3 near Blewett Pass/Table Mountain; 2 at
the Chehalis WA; 2 at Langley, B.C.; 2 over Mount Vernon; 2 over Fir
Island; 1 at the Skagit game range; 40 at Heffley Creek north of Kamloops,
B.C.; 1 near Burns, Oregon; 7 sitting in a field outside John Day, Oregon;
2 flying over Ukiah-Dale campground, Oregon
14 - 1 over Littlerock; 14 over south Penticton, B.C.; 4 at Campbell River,
B.C.; 12 on the Samish Flats; 7 at the West 90; 1 along the Fraser River
escarpment near Haney, B.C.; 10 still in the Kamloops area; 1 at Neck Point
Park, Nanaimo, B.C.; 2 hovering over a road kill in Surrey, B.C.; 1 at Pe
Ell; 1 in the fields near Chehalis
15 - 16 over Steigerwald Lake; 2 in the Grant Narrows area, B.C.; 1 west of
Hoquiam
16 - 6 south of Stanwood; 2 over Gower Point, B.C.; "many" at Garden Bay,
Pender Harbour, B.C.; 1 at Gibsons, B.C.; 1 at Boundary Bay RP, B.C.
17 - 3 over the mouth of Wilson Creek, B.C.; 2 at Gibsons, B.C.
19 - 1 east of Randle; 1 over the Milk Pond Picnic Area; 3 kettling with a
bald eagle east of Porter; 2 adults and 1 immature in trees at Adna; 2 at Joyce
20 - 24 above Queen Anne Hill; 3 south of Eatonville; 2 at Joyce
21 - 1 partial albino over Mount Hood, Oregon; 353 at Salt Creek
22 - 1 over Port Coquitlam, B.C.
23 - 1 kettling with a merlin and 2 redtails over Littlerock; 1 resting on
a piling at Ediz Hook
24 - 1 adult at Haney, B.C.; 88 at Salt Creek
25 - 4 flying north over Moses Lake; 1 over Mount Vernon; 4 over the
Humptulips River; 1 over Grass Creek; 1 over fields east of the Wynoochee River
26 - 6 over Leavenworth; 410 at Salt Creek
27 - 1 over Littlerock; 5 flying east over Spencer Island; 2 soaring over a
ridge west of Leavenworth; 140 at Salt Creek
28 - 2 still soaring over the Leavenworth ridge; 22 over Volunteer Park in
Seattle; 1 over LaConner; 31 at Salt Creek
29 - 50 over Joyce
30 - 174 at Salt Creek

October
01 - 13 over Kelly Peak
02 - 3 over Kelly Peak
03 - 8 over the Maury Island golf course; 2 near MP25/I-90?; 1 near MP32
04 - 25 over the Dosewallips area
05 - 35 over Victoria, B.C.; 1 near the Indian John rest stop, I-90; 3 over
Snoqualmie Pass
06 - 2 adults struggling to find thermals over Pitt Meadows, B.C.; 200
heading south over Camano Island; 1 over Lake Forest Park; 20 over downtown
Everett
07 - 14 circling over Ballard; 4 about 100' up over downtown Edmonds; 55
sailing over buildings near the waterfront in downtown Seattle; 50+ over
Safeco Field and 50-75 over the Federal Building (perhaps all the same
birds, perhaps not, depending on time/location; 7 kettling over Camano SP;
2 east of Monroe; 20 over Everett; 150-200 circling low with ca. 25-50 that
had landed in trees or circled the estuary - Schel-chelb Estuary,
Bainbridge Island
08 - 11 heading south over Golden Gardens Park; 1 over south Surrey, B.C.;
118 flying low and following a tree line of sorts near the Snohomish River
Bridge in Everett; 32 over Everett; 20 over Everett (all separate groups);
25 over Issaquah; 4 over Eastgate making like shearwaters over swells; 3
west of Southcenter at treetop level; 60+ between Woodinville and Redmond;
8 north of Woodinville (probably over my house while I worked on the
computer!); 6 over Northgate; 150 over the Snohomish County government
buiildings in Everett (probably the same as in the other report since the
time is similar)
09 - 14 over Trader Joe's in Issaquah; 7 flying one after the other over
Rosedale near Gig Harbor; 35+ at MP92/I-5; 20+ at MP95/I-5; 8 north of MP97/I-5
10 - 50 kettling over NW Seblar Terrace in Portland, Oregon; 1 at the Julia
Butler Hansen NWR

Hearty thanks to all for your reports. Keep watching - they're not done
quite yet!!

Cheers, Diann

Diann MacRae
Olympic Vulture Study
22622 - 53rd Avenue Southeast
Bothell, WA 98021
http://users.vei.net/tvulture/
tvulture at vei.net
-------------- next part --------------

---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.522 / Virus Database: 320 - Release Date: 9/29/2003