Subject: [Tweeters] Olympic Vulture Study
Date: Sep 16 13:07:07 2005
From: Diann MacRae - tvulture at vei.net




Hi, Tweets

For those of you not familiar with my vulture study, I thought I would post
a recent article about it. It gives a few statistics and some general
information.

For the twelvth year, the Olympic Vulture Study will be monitoring
the Turkey Vulture migration across the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Each fall,
large numbers of our only Pacific Northwest vulture rise high in the air on
thermals over the southern tip of Vancouver Island and then glide south
over the strait to end up near Salt Creek County Park on Washington?s
northern Olympic coast.

It?s an impressive sight to see these dark, almost eagle-sized
birds coming in off the water, often in groups of a hundred or more. They
seldom stop, but find more thermals and rise up again to continue their
journey south. We aren?t sure where ?our? vultures end up during the
winter, but over 30,000 Turkey Vultures are counted during the Kern River
Valley Vulture Watch in central California. Top honors for numbers of
vultures passing through, however, goes to the Veracruz area in Mexico,
where over a million vultures have been counted heading south.

Salt Creek County Park is at one of the narrowest spots on the
Strait of Juan de Fuca. If the weather is good, the count site operates
from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will begin on September 20th. The Olympic
Peninsula Audubon Society will have a field trip to the park on September
24th, hoping to intercept some of the migrants. Another plus to this great
park is that if there are no Turkey Vultures, there are many other species
of interest: abundant waterfowl, loons, alcids, migrant songbirds, raptors,
and occasionally sandhill cranes. There are also tidepools to visit and
picnic areas. The park Web site can be found by going to "Clallam County
Parks" on Google and then selecting Salt Creek.

Following are a few facts about the vulture migration:
? 2003: 1,196 turkey vultures were counted, with 410 arriving on the
26th of September.
? Grand total over ten years: 17,063 turkey vultures crossed the
Strait of Juan de Fuca to land in the Salt Creek Recreation
area and nearby vicinity.
? Biggest single day of all: 719 vultures on 27 September 1999 (in 3
hours!)
? Consistently highest day: 27 September, followed by the 23rd and
22nd of September
? Highest day in October: 2 October, followed by 3 October
? September totals (1992-2003): 12,778
? October totals (1992-2003): 3,724
? Best chance of seeing large flights of turkey vultures: the last
week in September.
? Best weather for seeing flights: ?nice? days with easterly winds.

Come visit, and hope for vultures! If you can't visit, please let me know
what you see where you are. I'll be off tweeters, but you can send reports
to my regular address: tvulture at vei.net

_______________________________________________________________________________

Diann MacRae
Olympic Vulture Study
22622 - 53rd Avenue S.E.
Bothell, WA 98021
tvulture at vei.net


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