[birding] Benton Count North ECBC raptor survey

[Jeff Fleischer]

Hi Everyone,

I did my first survey of the winter for this route which is part of the East Cascades Bird Conservancy's Statewide Winter Raptor Survey Project.  The area covers from Granger Ave north of Corvallis north to the Polk County line and from Independence Hwy west to Rifle Range Rd off of Tampico Rd just west of the Coffin Butte Landfill.  It goes through EE Wilson Wildlife Area and runs along the north side of Coffin Butte along Robison Rd.  The survey took 4 hours 40 minutes and covered 54.5 miles.  Weather was cold with nearly 100 % high overcast clouds.  Virtually no wind and basically pretty good viewing conditions throughout the route.  Following are today's results followed by Dec 08's data for comparison....

Red-tailed Hawk      82  (88) 
American Kestrel     32  (26)
Northern Harrier     10  (10)
Rough-legged Hawk     7  ( 6)
UNID Buteo           --  ( 1)
PEREGRINE FALCON      1   --
WHITE-TAILED KITE     2  ( 2)
Cooper's Hawk         2  ( 1)
Sharp-shinned Hawk    1  ( 1)
Unident.  Accipiter   1   --

TOTALS              138 135

Today's totals continue to maintain the record levels of raptors a year ago which were the highest totals for this route since the project started 6 winters ago.  RTHA numbers today were the third highest total recorded on this route, highest being 92 found in Jan 09.  As usual, highest concentration of birds was along Robison Rd with 20 RTHA, 4 AMKE, 7 NOHA, 6 RLHA, and both WTKIs found in the open perennial grass fields and refuge marshland north of the road.  Smaller solid concentrations of RTHAs were found on Soap Creek Rd south of Tampico Rd and on Ryals Ave off of Independence Hwy.  Seeing 4 accipiters in one day was also a treat :)

Best bird of the day was the PEREGRINE FALCON located flying then perching on a power pole in the center of the Pettibone Dr / Granger Ave loop.  I first saw the bird flying east while I was going west on Pettibone Dr.  The bird appeared overall dark so I could not distinquish any color or patterns but it was a large falcon and the wing cadence suggested Peregrine.  I watched it land on a particular power pole and then had to be patient as I continued with the survey until I got around to the south of the bird while on Granger Ave.  What little sun that was shining perfectly lit up the front of the bird and my guess as to species was then confirmed as I was able to see it still perched on the same pole about 20 minutes after first seeing it fly and land on the pole.  This was the first record for this species on this route and it totally made my day :)

Jeff Fleischer
Project Coordinator - Winter Raptor Project
East Cascades Bird Conservancy
Albany, OR