Clare McClean just reported observing a blue wing-tagged Red-tail on Fir
Island in Skagit County (sorry, no radio transmitter). This is one of the
birds we have re-located away from the runways at Seattle-Tacoma Airport. I
originally captured this hawk last fall on 15 September 2010 and released it
the same day near Bow, Skagit County.

This bird, thought to be a male, has been reported five times now, four on
Fir Island (Dec, Dec, Aug, Aug) and once in Whatcom County (12 April), near
Lynden, apparently while wandering about in spring. Clares photos also show
that it is developing a classic hook-bill form of the "long-billed
syndrome".

We really appreciate these sightings (thanks Clare!) as they provide
valuable information on the movements of these birds after they are
re-located.

And while on that subject, we have experienced a very unusual summer season
at Sea-Tac this year. Starting in late July, a huge number of juvenile
Red-tails began to arrive at Sea-Tac. From 23 July to now, we have safely
captured and re-located *forty-two (!) juvenile hawks*, an extraordinarily
high number in just over a month. We caught 12 of these in a single day.
This event is unprecedented at this airport and yet the hawks are still
coming in.

I am assuming that most of these birds are locals produced here in King
County. As they disperse away from their nest sites and gain independence, I
suspect that they are attracted to the open fields adjacent to the runways
of Sea-Tac, while searching for food (usually voles). It is likely that the
hawks spot the airport during their higher elevation soaring activities.
Sea-Tac is one of the last and largest open field areas remaining in
this corner of King County, especially since the Kent Valley has become so
heavily urbanized with an enormous loss of Red-tail habitat. As such, it is
almost "magnetic" to these young hawks learning to make a living.

In a normal year at the airport, we re-locate perhaps 25-40 raptors. This
year, we are already at 77 birds, nearly twice the normal number and it is
still just August. We have four months to go this year.

No similar large numbers are being seen at either Portland (PDX) or
Vancouver BC (YVR), although a similar Red-tail incursion happened at PDX in
2002.

As a result of all this, I have now re-located 42 new blue wing-tagged
juvenile hawks here to Skagit County since late July. I'd like to encourage
people to report any sightings of these birds as Clare has so kindly done.
It would be appreciated.

I also want to acknowledge the Port of Seattle for sponsoring this work.
They are extraordinarily supportive of the Raptor Management Project
(especially Port of Seattle Biologist Steve Osmek) and are consistently
doing the right thing for wildlife at the airport. They should be recognized
for that within the birding community.

My contact information is shown below.

Thanks in advance,
--
Bud Anderson
Falcon Research Group
Box 248
Bow, WA 98232
(360) 757-1911
falconresearch at gmail.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/pipermail/tweeters/attachments/20110829/044cbf7c/attachment.htm