Hi, Tweets

More groups of turkey vultures are being seen as fledglings join with
adults prior to their southward journey. They wander around a bit and
finally start heading off on migration to points south: some to
California and many through Central America where counts have been
into the millions. Quite a spectacle in places! However, just as big
a spectacle, if one is lucky, is a group of several hundred coming
into land at Salt Creek County Park after crossing the Strait of Juan
de Fuca in mid-to-late September to very early October.

Following are the reports from the Pacific Northwest for July 2010:

04 -- 1 at Legacy Marsh in Upper Lantzville, B.C.
05 -- 2 at Stillwater; 2 arising at 0724 west of Cle Elum; 1 at
Robinson Canyon; 3 west of Elk Heights; 3 west of Cle Elum
06 -- 1 at Burley Mountain; 1 at FR25; 2 over Lowden, Walla Walla
County; 1 at Klipchuck Campground; 4 at Theler Wetlands riding thermals
08 -- 1 at the road to Cameron Lake
09 -- 1 at Brown's Mt., South Spokane
11 -- 1 at Neck Point Park, Nanaimo, B.C.; 1 at Cameron Lake Road; a
6-vulture kettle near English Camp + scattered TVs at other locations
13 -- 1 north of Enumclaw; 1 going back and forth along a ridge at
the Garfield/Asotin County line; 1 at Tepee Trailhead; 2 soaring over
Bellingham's main harbor
14 -- 2 at the Maplewood C.A., North Vancouver, B.C.
16 -- 1 over the Teanaway River drainage
17 -- 1 north of Stanwood
19 -- 1 south of Anacortes; 1 near Nanoose Bay, B.C.
20 -- 1 in North Vancouver, B.C;
21 -- 23 in a hay field east of Mount Vernon; 7 over the Cassidy
Airport, Nanaimo, B.C.
24 -- 3 working hay winnows for massacred rodents in the Skagit
Valley near Edison
25 -- 1 south of Nanaimo, B.C.; 2 over Ocean Shores; 2 west of
Central Park; 2 turkey vultures having an aerial encounter with
harriers at Ocean Shores
31 -- 1 perched in a tree at Three Forks N.A., North Bend; 10 sitting
on a grassy bank of the Wenatchee River in Enchantment Park in
Leavenworth, not all with the adult red heads; 2 west of Enumclaw; 2
west of Greenwater; 2 in eastern Enumclaw; 2 in Fall City; 4 north of
Carnation.

Migration starts in August, usually very late in the month, builds up
through September, and finally finishes about mid-October. A very few
vultures winter over here and there.

Thanks for the reports and don't forget to look up when you are out
watching for migrant warblers and shorebirds.

Cheers, Diann

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