Diario del proyecto Inland Pacific Northwest Raptor Migration 2021

02 de enero de 2022

Final Summary

That's all folks, it is now January, and this project has officially come to its conclusion. In the course of six months, we fell just a few observations shy of the 1,200 marks. It is still a record-breaking year though, more participation than ever. Here a few stats from this year and you can compare them to the other two years I've done this project. Thank you all for your help and support!

Top 5 Species (December):

  1. Red-tailed Hawk -- 113 obs
  2. Rough-legged Hawk -- 35 obs
  3. Bald Eagle -- 29 obs
  4. Northern Harrier -- 22 obs
  5. American Kestrel -- 14 obs

Top 5 Species (Overall):

  1. Red-tailed Hawk -- 451 obs
  2. Bald Eagle -- 89 obs (+2 from last month; +2 from last year)
  3. American Kestrel -- 80 obs (-1 from last month; +2 from last year)
  4. Northern Harrier -- 65 obs (+4 from last month; +4 from last year)
  5. Turkey Vulture -- 62 obs (-2 from last month; +4 from last year)
  6. Rough-legged Hawk -- 62 obs (+5 from last month; +4 from last year)
  7. Great Horned Owl -- 62 obs (-1 from last month)
  8. Osprey -- 54 obs (-3 from last month; -5 from last year)
  9. Swainson's Hawk -- 44 obs (-2 from last month; -7 from last year)
  10. Golden Eagle -- 34 obs (-1 from last month; +1 from last year)
  11. Sharp-shinned Hawk -- 34 obs (-1 from last month; +2 from last year)
  12. Cooper's Hawk -- 31 obs (-6 from last year)
  13. Merlin -- 17 obs (-1 from last year)
  14. Prairie Falcon -- 16 obs (+1 from last year)
  15. Ferruginous Hawk -- 11 obs (+1 from last year)
  16. Barn Owl -- 10 obs (+3 from last month; +6 from last year)
  17. Red-shouldered Hawk -- 8 obs (-1 from last month; +6 from last year)
  18. Barred Owl -- 8 obs (-4 from last year)
  19. Peregrine Falcon -- 7 obs (-2 from last month; -2 from last year)
  20. Northern Goshawk -- 6 obs (+1 from last month)
  21. Northern Pygmy-Owl -- 6 obs (-1 from last month; -3 from last year)
  22. Great Gray Owl -- 6 obs (+5 from last year)
  23. Northern Saw-whet Owl -- 6 obs (-4 from last year)
  24. Western Screech-Owl -- 4 obs (-3 from last year)
  25. Broad-winged Hawk -- 3 obs (+4 from last year)
  26. Long-eared Owl -- 3 obs (-1 from last year)
  27. Short-eared Owl -- 3 obs (+1 from last month; -1 from last year)
  28. Burrowing Owl -- 2 obs (-1 from last month; -4 from last year)
  29. Flammulated Owl -- 1 obs (-1 from last year)

Total Species Observed: 29

Species Missed and Comments:
We missed 6 species for the project. I know through eBird reports or my own birding attempts that we should've gotten at least three of them, but that is not to be. Here's the ones we let slip past.

White-tailed Kite: Though I have this species on the list of raptors that can be seen within the project perimeters, there's only three confirmed reports in history, all of which were 20+ years ago. This is by far the hardest species to find.

Snowy Owl: I looked; I swear. eBird evidence is proving that this is an irruption year for winter raptors, something that hasn't happened since 2012, so we should be getting Snowy Owls. There was a report for one on private property in Umatilla, Oregon and one was photographed in Pasco, not none of those reporters use iNat.

Northern Hawk-Owl: This is certainly a tough species for anyone. The only realistic chance you have of finding one is going to the northernmost counties in Washington, hoping one might be visible in the many mountain meadows.

Spotted Owl: You need to know someone if you're going to find one within the project's perimeters.

Boreal Owl: Technically, I got one in the Blue Mountains. I went owling in what I had believed to be absolutely perfect habitat and I got him to sing and skew twice, then he was silent. I didn't have enough time to get a recording. I got some birding friends looking for it afterwards, everyone who went also heard it, except one, but even they couldn't record it.

Gyrfalcon: There was one seen. The Wallowa individual has returned for like the fifth winter in a row and several people to see it. I was suppose to go and see it last Monday but plans were cancelled last minute because I was needed in Twin Falls.

Subspecies:
Many raptor species have smaller populations with field identifiable traits. In the case of our project, many species have a subspecies along the coast and one for everywhere east of the Cascades. This comprises what subspecies each species seems to belong to, excluding species with only one possible subspecies in our region.

Northern Sharp-shinned Hawk (ssp velox) -- 34
Queen Charlotte Sharp-shinned Hawk (ssp perobscurus) -- 0

Western Red-tailed Hawk (ssp calurus) -- 439
Harlan's Hawk (ssp harlani) -- 12
Northern Red-tailed Hawk (ssp abieticola) -- 1
Eastern Red-tailed Hawk (ssp borealis) -- 0

California Red-shouldered Hawk (ssp elegans) -- 8
Eastern Red-shouldered Hawk (ssp lineatus -- 0

Taiga Merlin (ssp. columbarius) -- 16
Prairie Merlin (ssp. richardsoni) -- 0
Black Merlin (ssp. sickleyii) -- 1

Northwestern Great Horned Owl (ssp. lagophonus) -- 0
Great Basin Great Horned Owl (ssp. pinorum) -- 0
Western Great Horned Owl (ssp. lagophonus **or* pinorum)* -- 47
Dusky Great Horned Owl (ssp. saturatus) -- 0
Pale Great Horned Owl (ssp. subarcticus) -- 0

Pacific Northern Pygmy-Owl (ssp. californicum) -- 4
*Rocky Mountains Pygmy-Owl (ssp. pinicola) -- 0
*Pacific/Rocky Mountains Pygmy-Owl (ssp. californicum **or
* pinicola*) -- 2

Top 5 Observers By Observations:

  1. birdwhisperer -- 464 obs
  2. @the-catfinch -- 72 obs
  3. @cgates326 -- 59 obs
  4. @masonmaron -- 55 obs
  5. @andybridges -- 40 obs

Top 5 Observers By Species:

  1. birdwhisperer -- 20 species
  2. cgates326 -- 14 species
  3. @jnelson -- 13 species
  4. @philkahler -- 12 species
  5. masonmaron -- 11 species

Counties Missed: Only one county out of the 38 in our region did not get an observation; Columbia, Washington.

Final Comments:
I really appreciate the help everyone has provided to make this project such a success. We broke some records and I hope the data we produced will not only help iNat in the long run but also any other parties looking for information on our reports. And hopefully with the more year to year data we got, the more we can understand what's going on around us.

Observation of the Week goes to cgates326 for a juvenile Bald Eagle. Not much to say, our national symbol, just not in adult plumage. It's a beautiful bird, nevertheless. Observation of the Month, I'm nominating myself to show a nice adult Red-tailed Hawk.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/103869688
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/103223613

As we move forward, I hope we can get more people to join iNat and continue building our raptor numbers in the offseason. The more, the better. I also say this because this might be the last time, I'm doing this project. I'm sending off applications to colleges and if I get accepted into my top choice, I'm going to be living several states away. The chances of a 2022 survey are going to be low unless someone volunteers to take over for me.

In conclusion, I'm really proud of this project and those who have helped. I wish you all a happy new year and that your 2022 will not be as crazy as the last couple of years.

Sean Cozart -- birdwhisperer

Publicado el enero 2, 2022 04:02 MAÑANA por birdwhisperer birdwhisperer | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

23 de diciembre de 2021

Christmas Bird Count Week

Well folks, we did it. All we needed was 34 new observations and we went above and beyond and added 61. This project is now officially on record the year with the most observations, comfortably sitting at 1,086. Let's see how many more we can add with the chaos of Christmas and New Year's.

I'm nominating myself for the Observation of the Week because we need to discuss a very serious issue. It deals with raptors in the West and that's literally what this project is about. This past Sunday was the Christmas Bird Count for Union County, Oregon. I had the task of counting birds throughout the town of Union. We did about three quarters of our route before I saw a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk sitting in someone's yard. When I attempted pictures, he ran away, and it was obvious there was something seriously wrong with his wing. We captured him easily and we rushed to Pendleton in awful winter weather to get him to the raptor rescue. We stayed until we figured out what was wrong with Carl (yes, I named him). It was actually what I had feared from the start. A bullet, presumably from a .22, blasted off the top half of Carl's right scapula muscle and without the support of the bone, it caused the coracoid to twist and tear pectoral ligaments. That's why his wing looked fine upon examination, because it wasn't the wing preventing him from flying but the shoulder. When we pushed back his feathers along his shoulder, we could see the gash the bullet made and the expose bone. The rehab had very little choice but to put him down. The scapula and surrounding muscle are not exactly something you can live without, even if he stayed at the rehab as an education bird. It was truly a heartbreaking moment for me.

As much as I'm furious at the person who shot Carl, I think the blame equally goes to the Oregon Fish and Wildlife. Raptors all over the West are being shot by people. The best loop in the Grand Ronde Valley for raptors normally sees at least one raptor shot by someone every winter. A friend of mine in Idaho drove down a road this summer that had five raptors shot and killed there, two of which were Ferruginous Hawks. The wildlife rehab in Pendleton exists primarily because that many raptors are shot. Why isn't the ODFW not taking cases like this more seriously? Even though we reported Carl's story to them, they likely won't even send a guy over to investigate the recovery scene. They've already proven to me that they don't care of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

In my senior year of high school, I watched a Say's Phoebe build her nest and lay her eggs when I arrived at the sports complex for baseball practice. Kids threatened to destroy the nest, just for the sheer fun of it. I explained it was illegal and I even reported them to the school for thinking about it. Graduation came and my last check on the nest showed three eggs, about 3-5 days from hatching. I came back a week later with a friend and the nest was gone. Not just destroyed but gone. Whoever did it, not only removed the nest but used cleaner as well to remove the dirt that would've inevitably get stuck on the light or the wall of the building. A teenage wouldn't go through the effort to clean the area as well, they'd just destroy it and be on with their lives. That means only one person could've done it: the janitor, aka my baseball coach. I got in touch with the wildlife crime division with Oregon State Police (since ODFW can only investigate, not enforce the law) and the officer on the end of the line, literally told me "All we can do is tell him it's illegal."

As we all know, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act has been a hot topic of debate over the past couple years with how previous administrations have handled it, but I say, what good does it do if law enforcement won't even enforce the law in the first place? I have too many stories of illegal activities against birds to make me believe the cops really care about the law. They have the mentality of, "it's just a bird". So, I believe change starts by promotion. Let everyone know birders like us won't step down to these horrible and illegal acts. In the case of Carl, even if a good decent investigation were to take place, I don't we'd find the culprit, unless a neighbor rats them out. We have no bullet to match up with a gun, but the culprit most likely committed two crimes: one for shooting Carl, two for using a firearm within city limits. What if that bullet missed Carl and hit a kid playing in their front yard? Carl may not find justice, but hopefully if we can spread the word, we can have less incidents like this.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/103340390

We only have a week and a half left of this project, let's see how many observations we can squeeze in in that timeframe. We still need Gyrfalcon and Snowy Owl, so please someone find one. I wish you all the best of luck as always.

Publicado el diciembre 23, 2021 04:50 MAÑANA por birdwhisperer birdwhisperer | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

16 de diciembre de 2021

Blistery Wonderland

With the addition of 27 observations over the week, plus a boatload of older reports from our dictated members, we are now officially only thirty-four away from tying with our all-time record! Yahoo! We should definitely break that record this week with the raptors I photographed today and what I will be seeing in the next week.

Observation of the Week goes to @the-catfinch for a fantastic image of an intermediate morph Harlan's Hawk. No one can tell me otherwise, but these birds do not belong in the Red-tailed Hawk complex, some of these adults are so obviously distinct, how can they not be species? So, they might hybridize with Red-tails, it wouldn't be any different from Asian Buteos. If you see any Harlan's, be sure to photograph them, they are on the coolest raptors out there.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/102856240

No Snowy Owls or Gyrfalcons yet on iNat, but they're in the area according to eBird, so keep your eyes open. We only have two weeks left before this project officially ends, time's a tickin'. Besides that, I don't have much more news to give. If you're participating in a Christmas Bird Count this week, photograph the raptors.

Publicado el diciembre 16, 2021 05:12 MAÑANA por birdwhisperer birdwhisperer | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

09 de diciembre de 2021

Winter on Our Front Steps

The addition of 47 new observations puts the total count at 967. We are so close to a thousand you guys! We should be able to get it by next week, I'm sure. And I need to contact some folks in the Tri-cities and get them to join iNat so we can add Snowy Owl on the list. I missed her when I was up there this weekend and trust me, I worked hard on relocating her.

The Observation of the Week goes to @brodiecasstalbott for spotting a Barred Owl in Sherman Co, Oregon. This species is perhaps my biggest Oregon nemesis bird. In fact, I've only seen one Barred Owl in my life and that was in Boise a few years back. I don't know how iNaters find 800 owls for the project, but I certainly don't have that luck. Anyway, enjoy this handsome colonzier:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/102505032

We're still looking for Snowy Owls or Gyrfalcons. I will chasing the latter species this weekend, so hopefully I can find him. With snow engulfing northeast Oregon this week, we should see an influx of many winter species, both raptors and other birds alike. Good luck out there and stay tune for the next update.

Publicado el diciembre 9, 2021 06:09 MAÑANA por birdwhisperer birdwhisperer | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

02 de diciembre de 2021

November Summary

Top 5 Species (November):
Red-tailed Hawk -- 70 obs
Rough-legged Hawk -- 20 obs (new to Top 5)
Bald Eagle -- 18 obs (-1)
Northern Harrier -- 11 obs (returned to Top 5)
American Kestrel -- 10 obs (-1)

Top 5 Species (Overall):
Red-tailed Hawk -- 332 obs
American Kestrel -- 66 obs (+2)
Turkey Vulture -- 61 obs (-1)
Bald Eagle -- 58 obs (new to Top 5)
Osprey -- 53 obs (-2)

Total Species Overall: 29

Top 5 Observers (Observations):
birdwhisperer -- 295 obs
@cgates326 -- 52 obs
@masonmaron -- 47 obs
@andybridges -- 40 obs
@the-catfinch -- 38 obs

Top 5 Observers (Species):
birdwhisperer -- 20 species
cgates326 -- 14 species
@jnelson -- 13 species
masonmaron -- 11 species
the-catfinch -- 11 species

Species Still Not Observed: White-tailed Kite, Snowy Owl, Northern Hawk-Owl, Spotted Owl, Boreal Owl, Gyrfalcon

New Species in November: None

**Counties Needing Observations: WA -- Columbia -- OR -- Gilliam, Jefferson

News and What to Expect in December: Wow, we are on the last leg of our journey. Thirty days from now, this project will come to a close for the season, thus ending 3 years I've done this project. I wish it hadn't ended so soon but that's how life goes. My biggest goal is to get some new species added. On average and including the coastal survey group, our projects get about 30 species per year. If we were to end the project today, we'd have the 2nd worst record in terms of variety, all because we didn't get one species. I've been successful in getting 30 for the project in both 2019 and 2020 and I'm not stopping now. But with a report of a Snowy Owl in Pendleton, Oregon and a Gyrfalcon in Wallowa, Oregon, I see myself getting busy. Any chances of me revisiting my Blue Mountain Boreal Owl for an iNat-able documentation is out of the question now since the mountains are now under 8 inches of snow, but you might still be able to get it on Mt. Rainier if you're lucky.

Observation of the Week goes to myself because I'm selfish. But come on, look at this male American Kestrel! I've never seen a kestrel so close to my property let alone so cooperative with me standing so close for that fantastic image. Our smallest falcon, kestrels are pretty good mousers and they're better at it than the cats. You can see them in most open habitats sitting on wires, making them a common species for the project, as you can see above. You can see the image here and hopefully you can get a photo too of this adorable little kestrel.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/102147687

I've chosen jnelson's Great Horned Owl from Harney as the Observation for the Month because I think it's a good discussion species. Recently, I've been helping to implement the new avian taxonomy to iNaturalist but I figured out during this that one of these new changes will be the addition of 3 new Great Horned Owl subspecies. Oh boy, that's no good. It's hard to explain the situation in one paragraph but I agree there are some subspecies but individual variation really blurs the lines with other subspecies. The iNat revision will put all southeastern Oregon owls in the new subspecies pinorum. But Nelson's photo shows a bird that looks remarkably pale, almost like unto pallescens of the southwest deserts. That should be way out of range for them and being a sedentary species, the chances are that much more decreased. My theory, Great Horned Owls are polymorphic, like Red-tailed Hawks. I say this because there are owls in Walla Walla, which is the type locality of lagophonus, that are paired with an owl as dark as saturatus in the Haida Gwaii or some pale enough to be pallescens like Nelson's owl. How factual that is, we'll see but I can see for certain the owl in the link is paler than it should be.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/101861045

When I wrote the monthly post last time, the project was at 686 observations. Since then, we've sailed high and above to get 911. That puts us a whole 6 observations away from breaking our 2020 record. I think I can say we got this in the bag, this week is all we need, especially with the inflow we're getting. This also leaves me hopeful we can break our 2019 record, which is currently 147 observations away (1058). We just need to keep up the good work and with Christmas Bird Counts coming up, we're giving plenty of opportunities. Good luck!

Publicado el diciembre 2, 2021 05:00 TARDE por birdwhisperer birdwhisperer | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

25 de noviembre de 2021

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope you're all having a good day with family. If you want the weekly news, 42 observations added in the past week puts the project's total count to 868. We are now literally fifty more reports away from breaking our 2020 record and that was my goal all along, to surpass our all-time low. And if we continue strong, we'll break the 2019 record.

Yesterday was really exciting for me, so the Observation of the Week goes to myself. While driving the road that hugs the Union/Baker county border, a Red-tailed Hawk take off from the field, flew past us, then looped back until it landed directly above. When I saw it in flight, I saw the bright white uppertail coverts and the person I was birding with saw the thin patagium and white underwings. As I leaned dangerously out my car window and taking photos of the bird above me, I saw the white throat, unmarked flanks and a heavily retained molt. This hawk is not a local. I think it's a give or take case, a more lightly marked abieticola or a more heavily marked borealis. Either way a vagrant that shouldn't be here, but maybe not so much. Maybe I'm just the luckiest hawk watcher out there, or these vagrants are more common than reported as this'll represent my fifth or sixth abieticola/borealis Red-tailed. You can see my photos here:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/101861375

While you all eat a delicious turkey today, we are approaching the last week of November. Raptors are definitely coming in in strong numbers. Besides my vagrant Red-tailed, I also got two Harlan's (my fourth of the season), a Sharp-shinned, Rough-legged Hawk, a bunch of kestrels and my favorite spot, a Northern Pygmy-Owl. It is a perfect time for raptor watching, especially since the first snow fell this week. Good luck to you and have a good day!

Publicado el noviembre 25, 2021 04:53 TARDE por birdwhisperer birdwhisperer | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

21 de noviembre de 2021

Winter Arrivals

Thirty observations brings the total observation count over 800. For mid-November, this is good news for me but we shouldn't let up. Let's continue heading towards that thousand observation goal. And if it helps with motivation, we're only 90 away from breaking last year's record.

It was difficult to chose the Observation of the Week. We have a very nice Rough-legged Hawk posting, I had a sleeping Great Horned, and I had my first encounter with a dark morph Ferruginous Hawk. But out of all of that, I think the prize goes to @nmrveji for a photo of a Black Merlin. To the best of knowledge, this does not only mark our very first Black Merlin in the three years I've been doing this project, but also our first non-Taiga Merlin. They can be discerned by the much more common and expected race of Merlin by the lack of white bands on the tails (some can have up to at least 3 incomplete bands), dark head that obscures the teardrop stripes below the eye, and underparts more heavily marked. You can see the photo here:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/101069976

Not only has this been a good week for raptors, it's also looking to be a good year for finches. It is only mid-November and we are seeing numbers of redpolls and White-winged Crossbills that haven't been seen in Washington or Oregon since the 2012-2013 winter. This "irruption" is looking to be quite spectacular and it might also be a good sign for us raptor watchers. These high counts of winter species might also mean we'll see an unusual increase and southward migration of the Arctic 3; Rough-legged Hawk, Snowy Owl and Gyrfalcon. I can feel it, this winter is going to be good.

Publicado el noviembre 21, 2021 07:22 MAÑANA por birdwhisperer birdwhisperer | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

10 de noviembre de 2021

Two Weeks Worth

It has been crazy two weeks, hence why I haven't posted, but with the additions of 84 observations, we now sit at 760 reports this project season. This little push in reports now puts us on pace to break last year's record and possibly even the 2019 season. So keep up the good work!

The Observation of the Week (Oct 28-Nov 3) goes to @joy41 for an image of a perched juvenile Northern Harrier at Summer Lake, Oregon. I always find aging harriers really difficult but this one we can tell is a hatch year individual based on the relatively unstreaked underparts and strong rufous wash. Females tend to be more brownish or whitish with heavily streaked underparts. But you get those oddballs that blur the lines with aging, we're just lucky this one is so easy!

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/99777014

The Observation of the Week (Nov 4-10) goes to @flammulated for a Northern Saw-whet Owl in the Steens, Oregon. This is the fourth saw-whet owl of the project but by far the best quality image yet. What amazes me about these little owls is how often they're overlooked. I read a post at Rocky Point Bird Observatory that they caught and banded 1,000 saw-whets this fall season! Imagine if we could find them at their day roosts as often as they are caught. Just wow!

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/100601100

Winter is starting to set in and it looks like we have a good winter ahead of us. I'm seeing an redpoll irruption that is long overdue in the West, so what does that mean for other species? Could this be the year of the Snowy Owl? Gyrfalcon? Only one way to find out.

Publicado el noviembre 10, 2021 04:00 TARDE por birdwhisperer birdwhisperer | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

01 de noviembre de 2021

October Summary

Top 5 Species (October):
Red-tailed Hawk -- 43 obs
Bald Eagle -- 14 obs (new to Top 5)
Great Horned Owl -- 12 (returns to Top 5)
American Kestrel -- 9 (-1)
Merlin -- 8 (new to Top 5)

Top 5 Species (Overall):
Red-tailed Hawk -- 235 obs
Turkey Vulture -- 60 obs
Osprey -- 52 obs
American Kestrel -- 49 obs (+1)
Swainson's Hawk -- 44 obs (-1)

Total Species Overall: 29

Top 5 Observers (Observations): birdwhisperer 205 obs, @cgates326 48 obs, @masonmaron 41 obs, @andybridges 40 obs, @jnelson 17 obs

Top 5 Observers (Species): birdwhisperer 18 species, cgates 14 species, masonmaron 10 species, andybridges 9 species, jnelson 9 species

Species Still Not Observed: White-tailed Kite, Snowy Owl, Northern Hawk-Owl, Spotted Owl, Boreal Owl, Gyrfalcon -- 6 species

New Species in October: Rough-legged Hawk -- 1 species

Counties Needing Observations: WA -- Columbia -- OR -- Gilliam, Morrow, Jefferson

News and What to Expect in November: The next thirty days, we should be keeping our eyes out for winter specialty species. That includes Rough-legged Hawks, Gyrfalcons and Snowy Owls. Thought your best chances of seeing these species is in December, they can show up around now. Also look for other, more common wintering species like Harlan's Hawk or vagrant Red-tails. In fact, I might've spotted an Eastern Red-tailed today in Idaho, unfortunately not within the perimeters of the project but it could end up here.

For the week of October 21-27, I'm nominating myself for the Observation of the Week for a fine Red-tailed Hawk in Walla Walla. What can I say about them, they're fantastic and honestly, I can't wait for my mind to go through the loops when the migrants come and I have to sort them out. You can see my photo here:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/99850237

Observation of the Month goes to @joy41 for a photo of a Bald Eagle in Summer Lake, Oregon. The national bird, it looks like he's kind of sick of the photographer. But we can all agree raptors always have a perpetual glare. Link to that photo below:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/99776984

In terms of pacing, the project is now at 686 observations! If we post up to 30 observations per week in order to break our 2020 record, and if we want the all-time record, we need at least 40 observation per week to break it. However October was not the best month for new observations, when there's just as many cool stuff about. So just take pictures, even if it's the Red-tailed in your neighborhood. Good luck to you all and I hope you have a good month.

Publicado el noviembre 1, 2021 04:00 MAÑANA por birdwhisperer birdwhisperer | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario

21 de octubre de 2021

Eagles and Owls

Twenty-four observations were added during the week and there's more to come since I have a half a dozen or so that still needs uploading. Weather is not holding up in the eastern side of the state, so though birding is slow, we can still look forward to what's next.

The observation of the week goes to @chrisrohrer for a photo of a Great Gray Owl blending into the forest of the Okanogan region. As I continue to tell everybody, this region in north-central Washington is a raptor magnet and it's a shame no one really birds the area. But when you see one of the largest owls in the Americas, it's definitely a thrilling experience. You can see the image here:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/98350113

As for the following week, you folks need to hold up the team. Starting Saturday, I start my vacation to the Oregon coast so I won't be within the project's perimeters. I'm hoping that my pelagic trip won't be cancelled but the ocean is not being very cooperative. But even if it's a no-go, I'm stilling be birding along the coast for most of the weekend. So photograph some raptors while I'm gone and make me jealous!

Publicado el octubre 21, 2021 06:44 MAÑANA por birdwhisperer birdwhisperer | 0 comentarios | Deja un comentario