Hi, Tweets
September and October are always good turkey vulture viewing months. October at the north end of Woodland Bottoms certainly gave a good showing this year. Following are the reports (none from e-bird) from Washington, Oregon and British Columbia for September/October 2022. Thank you so much for the great reports.
SEPTEMBER
02 – Two near Hood River and 10 at Moiser (to the east of HR)), Oregon - also a couple near Randle.
03 – 2 turkey vultures circling over the Stillwater Unit, SWA, one took off north, slowly followed by the second one. One more seen about 45 minutes later near the river; two sitting on gravel, between grass & driveway, in a yard in Belfair.
04 – Kettle of 5 turkey vultures at Trafton Trailhead of Whitehorse Trail, Arlington, about 1100 (on the 17th in the same spot 4/5 were seen again); a single TUVU over Walmart in Chehalis heading south.
06 – 4 TUVUs around Multnomah Falls, 6 around milepost 50, and 2 at The Dalles, all Oregon; Two turkey vultures over Hayton and two over Rexville on the Skagit.
17 – 21 vultures in a kettle over Marymoor Park, King County.
19 – 19 at the north end of Woodland Bottoms,Cowlitz County.
29 – 124 turkey vultures at Ridgefield NWR, Clark County; 97 north of Woodland Bottoms.
30 – 202 at the north end of Woodland Bottoms.
OCTOBER
01 – Two turkey vultures headed south about noon near Lake Stevens.
02 – One turkey vulture circling low overhead at about 50 feet near Saint Mary’s Church, Anacortes.
04 – 70 west of La Center, Clark County; 23 turkey vultures in two kettles over Marymoor Park.
05 – 74 turkey vultures north of Woodland Bottoms.
05 – “Kettles and kettles of migrating turkey vultures left the Rocky Point Bird Observatory, in Victoria, B.C. late in the day.” from a private email; An e-bird report lists 2400 turkey vultures kettling at the southern end of Vancouver Island (this is the Rocky Point Area). These are the birds we would see at Salt Creek (west of Port Angeles) usually In late September.
06 – 25 above the windmill at Marymoor Park cruising south, a few minutes later there were 5 more with a northern harrier above them; 91 turkey vultures in two kettles of 38/48 plus 5 flying lower over the Enumclaw Plateau near the Donida Farm Equestrian Center, heading south or SSE, this between 1445/1450.
06 – Official count at Woodland Bottoms:493.
07 – 975 turkey vultures were still at Rocky Point, B.C. (along with 4 broad-winged hawks) today.
07 – Official count at Woodland Bottoms for today was 522, also 3 separate broadwings.
08 – Official count at the north end of Woodland Bottoms:1,017 turkey vultures, an “almost continual flow of birds between 0950-1500.”
11 – 113 turkey vultures at the north end of Woodland Bottoms.
15 – Four over Battle Ground, Clark County, in the morning
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Cheers, Diann
Diann MacRae, Olympic Vulture Study, 22622 - 53rd Avenue S.E., Bothell, WA 98021