Hi, Tweets

April and May are usually the big months for spring turkey vulture
migration and this year seems to fall in place with other years.
Following are the reports for Washington, Oregon, and British
Columbia for April 2007:

01 -- 12 over Newport Bay (not the restaurant), Oregon; 1 north of
Sedro Woolley; 1 west of Aberdeen; 1 west of Prosser; 2 looking
frantic in the snow west of Cle Elum; 1 over Guemes Island; 1 near
Redwood Park in Surrey, B.C.; (?) over McGregor Marsh, Nanaimo; 1
soaring over the Theler Wetlands; 4 near Buckley; 1 sitting on a dead
deer eating near Ape Caves, Mt. St. Helens
02 -- 8 along I-5 from Portland-Corvallis; 9 between Portland-Hood
River; 13 over Wenzel Slough Road; "multiple" numbers overhead
throughout the afternoon in the same area; 3 circling over Satsop
03 -- 1 west of Olympia; 3 on Brady Loop; 48 at Neah Bay (these
generally drift down the coast and cross where the strait is narrower)
05 -- 2 in a tree near I-90, 2 overhead at Cle Elum; 8 in two groups
heading north across Admiralty Inlet; 1 feeding in a cow pasture
06 -- 1 east of Ocean Shores
07 -- 1 nw of Tokeland being aggressively mobbed by crows; 1 near
Frenchman Coulee; 1 along Silver Creek in Ferry County; 1 along Brady
Loop Road; 1 near Wenzel Slough Road; 6 circling just southwest of Mt. Spokane
08 -- 3 soaring west of Raymond; (?) near Englishman River Estuary,
Parksville, B.C.
09 -- 1 at North Bend; 2 at Stampede Pass; 1 at Elk Heights; "a
number" between Snoqualmie Pass-Ellensburg
10 -- 1 over Lummi Island
13 -- 1 feeding on a dead opossum near Roy
14 -- 6 near the Goodrich Pond trail; (?) near Tinkham Road; 1 over
the rail yard in Port Coquitlam, B.C.; 4 soaring low northward near Chico
15 -- 1 over Lateral C, Toppenish NWR; (?) Legacy Marsh in Upper
Lantzville, B.C.; 2 north of the Columbia River/Pasco
18 -- 1 over the Pitt River Bridge, Port Coquitlam, B.C.; 1 over
Wenzel Slough; 3 near Anacortes; (?) at Parksville, B.C.
21 -- 3 in a tree at Floods, west of Hope, B.C.; 10 at Pitt Meadows, B.C.
22 -- 1 at the Nanaimo, B.C. estuary; 4 a bit north of Kalama
23 -- 1 in Pitt Meadows, B.C.; 1 over Maple Ridge, B.C.
25 -- (?) at Ridgefield NWR; 2 near the peregrine nest at Snoqualmie
Falls where the male drove them off; 2 more in the late afternoon
26 -- 1 over McAllister Creek, Nisqually NWR
27 -- 10 flying around the Roslyn exit; 2 west of Easton; 1 east of
Easton; 2 north of Cle Elum; 2 at Elk Heights; 3 north of Toppenish;
2 north of Granger; 1 near Granger; 3 at Point Roberts
28 -- 1 flying above Moses Lake; 1 adult over Glacial Heritage; 2
north of Wilsonville, Oregon; 3 near Aurora, OR; 4 near Brooks, OR; 2
west of Turner, OR; 2 north of Lebanon, OR; 1 north of Coburg, OR; 2
at Coburg, OR; 1 above Springfield, OR
29 -- 3 east of the Vantage Bridge a ways; 2 near the Hawk Creek
Canyon campground; 1 dead on the road near Littlerock on top of a
dead raccoon (this is one of the main threats to turkey vultures:
cars); 3 in the Elma-Brady area; 1 at English Boom, Camano Island; 1
near Roy; 3 at Eugene, OR; 3 north of Coburn, OR; 12 in a kettle near
Brownsville, OR; 3 near Books, OR; 2 nears Millersburg, OR; 1 north
of Kelzer, OR, 2 south of Wilsonville, OR, 1 near Tualitan, OR; 2
near Kalama; 3 along the Grant Narrows, B.C. dike trail

May should be a good month for vulture sightings. There will be
straggling migrants and many beginning their nesting. Where I have
used a (?) it means no numbers were given. If you see vultures in
parts of the states where they are seldom seen, the numbers really help.

Thanks to all who contribute sightings - they are always appreciated.

Cheers, Diann

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