Jeff,

Congratulations on the successful completion of the Willamette Valley
raptor survey project this winter. I have followed the reports of your
solo surveys over the 2002/2003 winter, and of the expanded project
this last winter, with a great deal of interest. Your efforts, and
those of the other participants in the project, will prove to be
extremely valuable in future to help monitor changes in numbers of
raptors over the years.

It may interest you to know that a somewhat similar raptor survey
program has been carried out for many years in the Lower Fraser Valley
near Vancouver, B.C., and is still continuing. This project is
somewhat different in that it is a more intensive survey of a smaller
area. It involves 20 to 30 observers on each date, and attempts a
complete survey of diurnal raptors (plus Northern Shrikes) in the
study area, or at least those that are visible from roadsides. The
surveys are also more frequent-- they have been done at either monthly
or bimonthly intervals from September through May, with a survey in
July as well.

The Fraser Valley raptor counts were carried out for 10 years, from
1970 through 1980, and then there was a hiatus of more than 15 years
in the counts. They were started again in the late 1990s, and have
continued through the present. The organizer/compiler for the last
several years has been Jude Grass, who is also the long-time compiler
of the Ladner, BC Christmas Bird Count.

No formal publications have resulted from the B.C. raptor counts yet,
but hopefully this will happen soon. The surveys have been very useful
in documenting such trends as the dramatic increase in wintering Bald
Eagles, and the cyclic fluctuations in numbers of such species as
Short-eared Owl, Snowy Owl, and (to a lesser degree) Rough-legged Hawk
and Northern Shrike. Detailed analysis may reveal more subtle trends
that are not obvious at first glance.

In Washington, the only intensive raptor survey that I am aware of is
the one carried out once each winter (in February, I believe) on the
Samish and Skagit Flats under the auspices of the Falcon Research
Group, organized by Bud Anderson. Even though it's only done once a
winter, it appears to be a very intensive survey involving a large
number of observers. I'm sure it has also produced some valuable data
on trends in raptor numbers.

Even though the protocols for these three raptor survey projects are
somewhat different, the aims appear to be similar-- monitoring
year-to-year changes in numbers, and (in the case of the Willamette
Valley and Fraser Valley projects) monitoring seasonal changes in
numbers as well. There might be a lot to be gained by sharing
information among the 3 projects. I am sending blind carbon copies of
this message to Jude Grass and Bud Anderson (in case they don't want
their E-mail addresses advertised to everyone on OBOL)-- they may wish
to contact you, or perhaps Bud already has.

At any rate, keep up the great work, and please keep reporting the
results on OBOL in future winters! Raptor surveys are a lot of fun to
carry out, and can provide some very valuable data as well.


Wayne C. Weber
Delta, BC
contopus at telus.net



----- Original Message -----
From: Jeff Fleischer <raptorrunner97321 at yahoo.com>
To: obol <obol at lists.orst.edu>
Sent: Sunday, March 14, 2004 6:45 PM
Subject: [obol] Willamette Valley Raptor Run Project results


> Obolers,
>
> Well, with spring rapidly approaching and all the new
> birds showing up (or soon to be anyway), I finally
> have finished up with this winters raptor surveys.
> The effort yielded some great information and
> broadened the scope of which raptors utilize the
> Willamette Valley during the winter and in what
> numbers and at what locations.
>
> As most of you know, I have censused raptors here in
> Linn County the last two winters. I have developed a
> protocol that I will be using in future years to
> collect data. I have established 4 routes here in
> Linn County that will be monitored as far into the
> future as I am physically able to do so, just because
> I like to watch raptors :)
>
> As you also know by now, I was able to fulfill a dream
> of sorts this winter by gathering a group of wonderful
> people to help me expand my project out into the rest
> of the Valley both north and south to find out what
> was going on outside of Linn County. Without their
> help I could not have pulled it off. They not only
> counted birds but were able to develop routes, based
> on their knowledge of their respective areas, that
> covered the better parts of their county where raptors
> are found. I want to now take this opportunity to
> publicly acknowledge those individuals and thank them
> as well for a job well done!!! My helpers included:
>
> Yamhill Co. - Carol Karlen
> Marilyn vanDyk
> Martha Stewart
> Polk Co. - Bill Tice
> Steve Seibel
> Benton Co. - Steve Seibel
> Lane Co. - John Sullivan and Laura Johnson
> Don and Linda DeWitt
> Dan and Anne Heyerly
> Linn Co. - Randy and Mary Campbell
> Jack Turner
> Marion Co. - John and Suzie Lundsten
>
> I personally conducted runs in Polk, Benton, and Linn
> Counties.
>
> Census runs were done once a month during December,
> January, February, and March. John Lundsten was able
> to cover the last 3 months in Marion Co. In most
> instances all the runs were done during the first two
> weeks of each month. There were 2 routes in Polk Co.,
> 3 in Lane Co., 4 in Linn Co., and 1 each in the other
> 3 counties. Routes ranged in length from 50 miles up
> to 174 miles. And some of us were out there counting
> birds for 8 hours or more! :)
>
> As a result of the expanded effort, a total of 18
> species of raptors were observed. Of course, not all
> species were seen in every route. And, it is obvious
> that we didn't see all the birds that were present as
> we conducted our individual runs and we didn't cover
> all the available habitat that attracts raptors.
> Following is a chart that summarizes the totals that
> were observed for all species for the 4 months on the
> 12 routes.
>
> DEC JAN FEB MAR
>
> Red-tailed Hawk 389 516 545 450
> American Kestrel 412 525 504 399
> Northern Harrier 70 127 97 87
> Bald Eagle 27 59 81 93
> Rough-legged Hawk 13 23 35 11
> Red-shouldered Hawk 5 5 3 -
> White-tailed Kite 23 33 12 11
> Peregrine Falcon 3 5 7 3
> Prairie Falcon 2 3 6 -
> Merlin 3 7 7 2
> Gyrfalcon - - 1 -
> Sharp-shinned Hawk 4 1 4 4
> Cooper's Hawk 1 8 7 5
> accipiter sp. - 3 - 1
> Burrowing Owl 2 1 2 1
> Short-eared Owl - 2 - -
> Barn Owl - - 1 -
> Great Horned Owl - - 2 5
> Osprey - - - 1
>
> TOTALS 954 1,318 1,314 1,073
>
> In another message to come I will show actual counts
> for all the runs in each of the counties. I just
> wanted to get the above information out to you this
> evening so that you have some sense of what we
> collectively accomplished this winter.
>
> This project was a great example of what citizen
> science is all about :). I am sure that there are
> some holes in the process that will drive
> statisticians bonkers when trying to analyze the data.
> But, that was not the purpose of this project. The
> purpose was to make normal observations by normal
> citizens to discover what is out there in the natural
> world around us :) All of us had great observation
> experiences regarding these cool birds.
>
> It is hoped that we will be able to continue this
> effort in future winters here in the Willamette
> Valley, and, possibly expand it some more to take in
> other wintering areas of the state outside of the
> Willamette Valley. This has already started. The
> East Cascades Bird Conservancy in central Oregon
> organized a raptor census project this winter. I
> also remember several other individuals (Mike
> Patterson and Dennis Vroman come to mind) that
> reported their raptor counting efforts to OBOL this
> winter. Wouldn't it be fun to attempt to find out
> what the population of raptors is at the state level
> in other wintering areas? :)
>
> I hope you all enjoyed the Willamette Valley raptor
> run reports throughout the winter by the above
> individuals. I enjoyed working with all of them and
> want to again thank them for their efforts :)
>
> Jeff Fleischer
> Albany
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