FRG Newsletter

2012 FRG Winter Bulletin

noreply@blogger.com (PanamPEFA) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 20:08:00 +0000

Snowy Owl Year

In November, it became apparent that this was going to be a Snowy Owl year, the first one in awhile. At this point, there are around 30 at Boundary Bay in BC, 9 or so at Ocean Shores, several over at Dungeness, a couple down by Stanwood, 2-3 up on the Lummi Flats and reports of individuals in Seattle (including the Woodland Park Zoo). So it is a good year for them but not a massive one like in the 1970’s.

First Known Record of a Snowy Owl in Hawaii

Hard to believe but a Snowy Owl has actually made it to Hawaii, a minimum of 2,300 miles off shore. In late November, the bird was observed and photographed on the runway at the Honolulu Airport. The best guess is that it hopped from ship to ship to make it that far across the Pacific. Incredibly and tragically, it was shot almost immediately by the USDA Wildlife Services branch, a totally unnecessary response. It is reportedly now at the Bishop Museum.

Odd Merlin Band Recovery

Jack Bettesworth reports that an adult female Merlin he banded at its nest in NW Seattle in 2010 has been recovered after hitting a wire in downtown Yakima on 11 December 2011. This is the first record we have of a known breeder leaving Seattle, flying east across the Cascade Mountain range and winding up in eastern Washington. It is surprising that a local Merlin would leave the food-rich resources of a major city and essentially fly SE. As always, we keep learning thanks to our colleague Jack B., one of the best raptor guys around.

Sea-Tac International Airport Raptor Management Program

It has been a very busy year for us at Sea-Tac. The primary goal of our raptor program is to reduce the number of bird-strikes involving birds of prey at the airport and we seem to be succeeding. As we enter the 11^th year of the program, we are approaching the 400 tagged bird mark. In an average year, we catch and relocate around 35-40 birds. This year we are at 109 birds as I write this newsletter. We experienced a massive influx of juvenile Red-tails in both the spring but especially the fall season. In just 6 weeks, we successfully relocated 45 young Red-tails away from the runways. We have never seen this number before. On a single day, we caught and relocated 12 birds, including a double catch on a BC trap. Late night on that one.

Blue Tagged Red-tails

In January 2009, we began putting light blue numbered patagial wing-tags on all juvenile Red-tailed Hawks that we transported away from the runways at Sea-Tac. Our purpose was to assess what was happening to those birds. Was our program working?

Over the last three years, we have tagged 98 juveniles. Due to the conspicuous nature of the markers, we have received reports of 40 of these birds (79 sightings). Many have been seen multiple times, like Blue Left 15 (seven sightings). He has ranged from Bellingham to near Mt. Vernon. Other birds have been reported from Victoria and Surrey, BC to Whatcom, Skagit, Island, Snohomish, King and Pierce Counties in WA and two others in Oregon (PDX, Lexington and Hubbard in eastern OR).

Among these 98 hawks, only a small percentage (6 birds) has returned to Sea-Tac. Four of those were seen only once before moving on again. One more stayed for a month in spring, then left. The final bird was struck by a jet within a few days of returning. From these data, we can see that relocating young Red-tails away from the airport works well.

If you see one of these birds, please note the date, location, number on tag and the side where it is attached (males are on the left, females on right). Then call Bud (360) 757-1911, or e-mail your sighting data to falconresearch@gmail.com

Annual Skagit Flats Winter Raptor Survey

Our traditional Skagit hawk census will be held on Saturday, 11 February from 9-11 AM. Route leaders will be hearing from Ed Deal soon if you haven’t already. If you are new here and would like to join the effort, please contact Ed at (206) 723-4742 or falcophile@comcast.net.

Snowy Owl Lecture by Denver Holt at the Skagit Census

Denver Holt, a world class expert on owls and Director of the Owl Institute in Montana, will present the annual lecture at noon this year. He will be describing his extensive research on the Snowy Owls in the arctic and bring us all up to date on what is known about this engaging species. Good timing....

Remarkable Final Update: Island Girl Photographed in Chile

On the last day of her southbound migration in Chile, Island Girl was observed by Alvaro Jaramillo,(author of the Birds of Chile) and his tour group at an estuary near San Antonio, about 100 miles north of her final destination at Putu. Alvaro was even able to take two superb photographs which he has posted on his website, http://alvarosadventures.com. Check it out, especially her transmitter.

Peregrinations

Ed Deal reports the following local peregrine band returns.

1. A nestling (A-62) he banded at the famous downtown Seattle eyrie (1201 Third Avenue Building-“WAMU”) on 3 June 2011 has been seen hunting near Alameda CA on the shores of San Francisco Bay in November. Ed reports...”She was the only survivor of three eyasses. Interestingly, she was recently photographed hunting shorebirds on 28 SEPT 2011 near Hansville, WA (20 miles or so NW of Seattle). She is the second Washington Mutual bird to make it to California (a HY male was killed by a plane at LAX many years ago).”

2. Ed writes...”A second WAMU female banded in the nest 24 MAY 2002, was picked up badly injured in Oakridge, OR (42 miles southeast of Eugene) 15 March 2011, taken to rehab, later had to be euthanized. Suspected to be part of a nearby breeding pair. Given normal reproduction starting at age 2, she would have had potentially 7 breeding seasons. So there are likely many grandchildren of Stewart and Belle in the central Oregon Cascades!” This is so nice to know...

Hawk-watching Classes

We will be teaching our traditional Hawk-watching in Western Washington class in Bellingham, Mt. Vernon and Seattle this year. Sorry to date us all but this will be the 30^th anniversary of this class! Please pass along the dates to friends, relatives and others to help support our work.

City                   Dates                      Location
Bellingham     9 Jan-6 Feb (Mondays)     Whatcom Mid. School Library
Mt. Vernon     10 Jan-7 Feb (Tuesdays)               Padilla Bay Center
Seattle           11 Jan-8Feb (Wednesdays)              Discovery Park

The class will include the usual five sessions (7-9 PM) covering field ID, behavior and distribution of raptors plus an all day field trip to the Skagit Flats to look at wild hawks. Cost of the course is $150.00. To register, please send a check to Box 248, Bow, WA 98232. For information call (360) 757-1911 or contact falconresearch@gmail.com

Annual Dues

If you like what we do, you can help support our work by donating to the FRG. Annual dues are just $25.00 per year. And, as always, thank you for your support.

2010 Winter Bulletin

noreply@blogger.com (PanamPEFA) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 02:18:00 +0000

Southern Cross Peregrine Project Presentations
(Mt. Vernon/Seattle)

As I write this bulletin, we have just completed following two satellite-tagged peregrines on their journeys south to Chile from Baffin Island in Canada (www.frg.org). This was the third year of this ground-breaking migration project which is supported primarily by members of the Falcon Research Group.

As a way of saying thank you to all of you, our supporters, Bud Anderson will be presenting an hour-long program describing the SCPP results so far. The first talk, near Mt. Vernon, will take place at the Padilla Bay Center on Thursday evening, 14 January at 7PM. The second talk, in Seattle, will be held at the downtown REI store (Friday evening, 15 January at 7PM). We hope to see you all there. Both talks are open to the general public. So spread the word....

First Broad-winged Hawk Caught in WA

Our colleague, Kent Woodruff, reports that the crew at Chelan Ridge finally succeeded in capturing, banding and releasing the first Broad-winged Hawk ever caught in Washington State, a long-sought record among banders. It was trapped and released on 28 September 2009.
As Broad-wings continue to expand their breeding range into British Columbia (they are now nesting almost to the Pacific Ocean), we can expect to see more and more of them migrating through western Washington in the future. And thanks to Kent for sharing this record with us.

Annual Skagit Flats Raptor Census

Mark your calendars once again. The Skagit Flats hawk census will take place this year from 0900-1100 on Saturday, February 13th, 2010. We will all meet at the Padilla Bay Center after the count. Ed Deal and Roger Johnson will be coordinating the count and will be contacting team leaders in January. If you are new to this really fun effort and would like to participate, contact Ed at (206) 723-4742 or falcophile@comcast.net.

Noted Raptor Biologist, Allen Fish, to speak at 2010 Skagit Raptor Census

The Golden Gate Raptor Observatory is one of the finest raptor organizations in the world. They operate a famous observation and hawk banding site just north of San Francisco. Directed by Allen Fish and Buzz Hull, the organization is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

Allen has kindly agreed to be our featured speaker for the ongoing FRG Lecture Series at the Padilla Bay Center. He will be presenting just after the census this year (noon) and will describe the history, results and goals of the GGRO over the last 25 years. Don’t miss this talk as Allen is an engaging speaker and extremely knowledgeable about raptors. Besides, you never know when you might show up in San Francisco for the fall hawk migration!

A Sea-Tac Airport Red-tail Recovery

As part of the Raptor Management Plan at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, we began banding and wing-tagging adult RTHAs in 2001 to identify individual hawks and define their ranges at the airport. So far, we have banded 231 hawks, relocating most to Skagit County.

On 23 December, 2001, we banded an adult female RTHA and attached yellow tag letter “E” to her right wing. In November, Teresa Yamamoto, of Wolftown, reported that “E” was found entangled in an electrified goat fence on Vashon Island on 14 November, 2009. Unfortunately, she had been caught for several days before discovery and, as a result, did not make it. But she had lived for nearly eight years after capture, apparently on Vashon Island.

Bander Alert: Merlin DNA Study

The Merlin (Falco columbarius), one of our little sky sharks, occurs over much of North America, including here in western Washington. Josh Hull, a geneticist currently with the USGS (and also the son of Buzz Hull, Golden Gate Raptor Observatory), has started a new study to examine the evolutionary relationships of North American Merlins. He is asking for volunteers to cooperate on a continent-wide effort by collecting DNA feather samples from these falcons. This is a great opportunity to contribute to the knowledge of Merlins and our FRG banding crew has agreed to cooperate on this project. If you encounter a breeding pair of Merlins in Washington this summer, please let us know.

Banding the San Juan Island Peregrines

With the help of Ed Deal, Mark Gleason, Michael Preusch and Frank Hainze, we completed our 15th year of banding nestling peregrines in the San Juans in 2009. We found that 18 (90%) of the traditional nest sites were occupied by adult peregrines. Two other sites were unoccupied. Nine (50%) of these pairs failed to produce young in 2009, one as a result of direct predation and the others for unknown causes. We did band 18 nestlings at the remaining 7 active eyries, but missed four young at the two other sites. Our stalwart FRG team has now banded 310 eyass peregrines in the San Juan Islands since 1995, a continuing record for Washington.

We observed some new behavior this year. Several eyass falcons died on the nest ledges before fledging, an unusual event for the San Juan Island population and seldom witnessed here before. Jennifer Bohannon of the Washington Department of Fish And Wildlife had one of these chicks analyzed at the USGS National Wildlife Health Center. No evidence of West Nile or avian influenza was found and the cause of death remained undetermined.

A San Juan Island Peregrine Band Return from California

On 10 June, we banded a male nestling peregrine at an eyrie in the western San Juans. It was one of two eyasses. Three weeks later, we observed the fledgling perched and flying near the nest cliff (30 June). It was observed again by a birder on 18 August in Victoria, BC, about 18 miles from the nest, and feeding on a Rock Pigeon.

In November, we got an e-mail from Candace Davenport at the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory in California, stating that the Hawk Hill team had captured this falcon just north of the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County on 16 October, 760 miles south of the eyrie. This is the second San Juan peregrine captured by our friends in San Francisco.

Overall, we have now received reports (i.e. sightings, band recoveries, re-traps) from 72 of the 310 nestling falcons banded in the San Juans, a remarkable return rate of 23.2%. We believe this high rate is the result of using numbered VID leg bands. Such conspicuous bands are often be read by observers with binoculars and scopes. If you see one, please let us know!

The Original “Hawkwatching in Western Washington” Class

The FRG basic hawk class will be held once again in Mt. Vernon and Seattle next year (2010). Hard to believe that I have been teaching this class for 26 years but it has been a great pleasure and much fun. Thank you all for taking it and supporting the FRG over these many years. Please pass along the class dates and locations to friends, family and whoever else might be interested. It helps support our research.

Location/
Night Dates Time

Mt.
Vernon/
Tuesdays 12 Jan-9 Feb. 7 PM

Seattle/
Wednesdays 13 Jan-10 Feb. 7 PM

As always, each class includes a 1 hour lecture and 1 hour of images, one night per week, plus a full-day field trip to the Skagit Flats to look at wild raptors. Cost of the course is $150. To register, please send your check to FRG, Box 248, Bow, WA 98232. For questions, call Bud at (360) 757-1911 or e-mail bud@frg.org.

Annual FRG Dues

If you like what we are doing and want to support our efforts, please send in your contribution to the Falcon Research Group. Dues are still $25.00 a year, but contributions over and above that figure are always welcome. And thank you for your support.....

2009 Winter Bulletin

noreply@blogger.com (PanamPEFA) — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 17:30:00 +0000

Elizabetha Sets a New World Record

Elizabetha, an adult female peregrine that we tagged in Chile on 21 January 2008 as part of the Southern Cross Peregrine Project, migrated north to Baffin Island, Canada, to breed last summer. After raising her family, she began to migrate south again on 22 September, generally following the classic US east coast route. On 19 October, she was flying off the coast of New Jersey when she apparently caught the counter-clockwise storm system of Hurricane Omar. With solid tail winds, she flew south all the way to Palm Beach, Florida in a day, a distance of at least 954 miles and a knock-out world record. None of us had even dreamed that a peregrine could fly that far in a single day. This is yet another example of how satellite transmitters are revolutionizing our understanding of so many organisms worldwide.
As I write this bulletin (28 December), she is still migrating slowly south, having just arrived in Chile once again. She is demonstrating that some adult females perform an unanticipated “slow migration” south, long suspected but now confirmed for the species.

Nineteen-year-old Washington Red-tailed Hawk Return

Simone Lupson-Cook at Sarvey reports a long-billed Red-tailed Hawk found along the highway just west of Arlington, WA, on 1 September 2008. It had been hit by a car while trying to eat carrion. Turns out it was originally banded as an adult by FRG banders Kris and Shamus McBride along the I-5 corridor just north of the Stillaguamish River on 28 February 1989. So it was at least 19 years old and was recovered just a few miles from where it was originally captured. Imagine the wisdom and experiences that bird had acquired over those many years.

The 2008 Washington Mutual Tower Peregrine Nesting Disaster

Last summer, a new pair of peregrines took over the nesting box on the then-known WAMU tower in downtown Seattle. They succeeded in laying at least three eggs and successfully incubated them through April. All three eggs hatched but after a short period of time all 3 young died at about 10-14 days of age, which is quite unusual for peregrines at that stage.
We arranged for permission with WSDFW to collect two of the young and Denise Kolb (Wright Runstad) and Martin Muller were able to retrieve them right away. The dead chicks went to Dr. Lindsay Oaks at WSU in Pullman. He examined both nestlings and discovered that they had died from a bacterial infection. In fact, Dr. Oaks determined that this was a new species of bacteria and that it had never been reported in peregrines before. We do not know how this organism reached the nest box 56 stories above the ground. It may have come in via prey or have been airborne.

Annual Skagit Flats Hawk Census

The annual Skagit hawk count will be on Valentine’s Day, Saturday, 14 February 2009. Please contact Ed Deal (206) 723-4742 (falcophile@comcast.net) to sign up. Beginning hawk watchers are welcome. This year, we will be featuring graduate student Ursula Valdez from Peru who will describe her work on the enigmatic Forest falcons in the Amazon Basin. Please plan to arrive at the Padilla Bay Center by noon to hear the talk.

Spectacular New Book: Falcons of North America

Kate Davis, director of Raptors of the Rockies in Missoula, Montana, has written a beautiful and informative book on North American falcons. It features some of the finest falcon photographs by Nick Dunlop and Rob Palmer anyone has ever seen. I don’t usually recommend books in the FRG bulletin but this one deserves it. Check it out at your local bookstore and you’ll see what I mean. Or order it directly from Kate at raptors@montana.com.

Sea-Tac Airport Project Reaches 200 Hawk Milestone

We have been working with Port of Seattle biologist, Steve Osmek, over the last seven years to reduce the number of bird strikes involving hawks at Seattle-Tacoma Airport. Our approach is to capture and transport any new hawks that show up on or near the runways, in particular juvenile Red-tails. As part of a new way of dealing with the bird strike problem, we allow the “savvy” resident adults to remain on site. Turns out they avoid the jets and chase off other more naïve hawks. As an example of how this works, we have two wing-tagged red-tails (B and C) that have lived successfully at the airport for over 7 years, one even nesting under the approach lights.
Last fall, we captured and transported our 200th raptor away from the airport, taking it to the far safer and richer habitat of the Skagit Flats.

Summer Peregrine Banding in the San Juan Islands

Once again, we monitored 22 Peregrine breeding sites in the San Juans last summer including one new pair near Anacortes located by Jennifer Bohannon of the WSDFW. Sixteen sites were occupied (73%) and twelve of these produced at least 29 young. Our team banded 26 of these, including 9 males and 17 females. We assisted in taking one other male for the official state falconry harvest. We missed the precise productivity figures for one of the sites. Overall productivity rate for the islands (12 successful sites producing 29 young) was at least 2.41 young per site, considered slightly below the rate for sustaining the population.

Panama Tour

Thirteen stalwart FRG raptor aficionados now have a deeper understanding of army ants, tropical heat, and the myriad species of small birds that can hide in the tropical forest canopy of Panama. Guido Berguido of Advantage Tours gave us a really wonderful tour including the migration at Ancon Hill in Panama City, Gamboa, Cerro Azul, world famous Pipeline Road and the highlands of western Panama. We saw 300 species of birds including 26 kinds of raptors, as well as sloths, agoutis and coatis. Who knew there were Red-tails nesting in Panama?

La Serena Peregrine Sighted in Chile

The Southern Cross Peregrine Team caught this falcon near the city of La Serena in northern Chile on 2 March 2007. We tagged her with a satellite transmitter and released her just north of the city. Satellite data showed her to be a resident bird and not a North American migrant as we had thought.
That September, we followed her via satellite into the Andean foothills and realized that she was breeding in a dry canyon not far from town. Over the last two years, she has bred twice in the same canyon. The nest site was discovered by our Chilean colleague, Manuel Rojas, who also saw her with young last year. The nice thing about this bird is that for the first time, we are seeing exactly what a resident peregrine does in South America
Last week, I was in La Serena and found her sitting back on her original tree on the coastal plain exactly where we had caught her before. I could clearly see the antenna from her transmitter. She had just raised another family and was now “off duty” once again. Although I attempted to trap her again to recycle her satellite unit, she took off on a hunting flight and did not return that morning.

Hawkwatching in Western Washington Classes

The classic hawk ID class (which most of you have taken), will be presented in the following three cities this winter. Please pass this information on to friends, family and any other sort of ragamuffins that might be interested.

Location -- Dates -- Night -- Host
Bellingham -- 13 Jan-10 Feb. -- Tuesdays -- Whatcom County Museum
Mt. Vernon -- 15 Jan-12 Feb. -- Thursdays -- Padilla Bay Center
Seattle -- 16 Jan-13 Feb. -- Fridays -- Discovery Park

Classes meet from 7-9:30 PM one night per week night for five weeks. Cost ($150.00 per person) includes a full-day field trip to look at wild hawks as usual. To enroll, please mail a check to the FRG, Box 248, Bow WA, 98232. For more information, call Bud at (360) 757-1911.
Incidentally, I will be giving a free two-hour Introduction to Raptors talk at the Padilla Bay Center on Saturday, 10 January from 9-11 AM.

Dues

Annual dues are $25 per year and go towards the operation of the FRG. If you like what we do, please consider sending in a donation. We appreciate it and thank you for your support.

2008 Winter Bulletin

noreply@blogger.com (PanamPEFA) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 23:19:00 +0000

Australian Peregrine Expert to Speak at the Skagit Hawk Census in February

Noted Australian peregrine biologist, Victor Hurley, will describe his work on Australian peregrines at the Skagit Hawk Census on 16 February from 1200-1300. Victor is one of the most dedicated peregrine people that I have met and also one of the funniest and most captivating guys around. Trust me, don’t miss this talk. He will be coming all the way up from Australia to present it to FRG people.

Skagit Flats Annual Winter Hawk Count

As stated above, the winter hawk count will take place on Saturday, 16 February from 9-11 AM this year. As usual, meet at the Padilla Bay Center after you complete your route (by noon if possible). The count is being coordinated this year by Ed Deal (Seattle). He will be contacting the route leaders soon. If you are new to the count and would like to participate, please contact Ed at (206) 723-4742.

The Entiat Ridge Experimental Hawk Banding Station

Our dedicated team of volunteer hawk banders made another good effort at Entiat Ridge last autumn. After setting a new record in 2006, the team was expecting another dynamite season this year. However, after starting out at a sizzling record pace, their hopes were dashed by terrible weather in mid-September, which is normally our best trapping period. Heavy rain, snow, fog and earlier-than-normal freezing temperatures hampered their activities and reduced the number of birds caught. Because of the bad weather, they were forced to shut the project down a week earlier than normal.
The team banded a total of 280 birds, including 140 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 83 Cooper’s Hawks, 14 Red-tailed Hawks, 32 American Kestrels, 3 Merlins, 2 Prairie Falcons, 2 Northern Goshawks, 2 Northern Harriers and 1 Peregrine Falcon. Pat Little provided the highlight of the season with a Golden Eagle, very rarely caught at Entiat.
We have now banded a total of 2,013 migrant hawks at Entiat Ridge over the last 7 years (217, 228, 235, 280, 309, 349, and 395), for an average of 287 birds per year.
Thanks go to everyone involved, especially our hawk banders, who spend long hours in the blind and on the roads. Thanks also to both Longview Fibre for their continued permission to conduct the study on their land and Eagle Creek Ranch for their continuing logistical support.

San Juan Peregrines

Ed Deal, Pat Little, Russ Beardsley and Martin Muller surveyed the San Juans last summer and found a low rate of productivity. Among the 22 known breeding sites in the islands, only 15 were occupied this year. Among these pairs, only 6 were successful. They produced only 14 young falcons, an average was 2.3 young per successful pair. Weather and predation are the most likely causes for this low rate.

The Urban Peregrines of Western Washington

This year, the FRG monitored 6 active pairs of urban nesting peregrines in Seattle and Everett. We did not visit five additional pairs in Tacoma, Bremerton and Olympia.
The new pair at the Washington Mutual Tower failed again but under quite unusual circumstances. Ruth Taylor observed eight peregrine eggs in the nest box early in the season. This is extremely unusual for peregrines. Our best guess is that an early female laid her eggs and then either died or was driven out. A second adult female must have also laid her four eggs in the box. Unfortunately, all eight of the eggs perished.
In addition, Martin, Ed, Mark Gleason and Mike McDonald banded 4 young falcons at West Seattle, 4 at the I-5 Ship Canal, and one at Ballard. At least one young fledged unbanded at Mercer Island and two more from what is my candidate for the most hideous peregrine nest site in the world, the First Avenue South Bridge.
As always, the Everett pair failed.
Our thanks go to the Washington State Department of Transportation (especially Mike McDonald) for their kind permission to band these birds.

Southern Cross Peregrine Project Update

Thanks to the support of our membership, the FRG research team traveled to Chile last February and March and successfully tagged seven peregrines with satellite transmitters. Four were North American adult migrants and three resident Chilean birds.
Last spring, (April-June), we followed the four adults back to North America via satellite. Their daily movements were displayed “live” on our website at http://www.frg.org/.
All four migrant peregrines flew back north into Canada. The first female (Arena) migrated to the Ungava Peninsula and the other female (Linda) apparently bred near NW Hudson Bay. One male (Sparrow King) went to the southern tip of Baffin Island and the other male (Seven) flew all the way to the Northwest Territories above the Arctic Circle. He arrived at his breeding site in Tuktut Nogiat National Park near the Arctic Ocean and was actually observed at his nest site with young during the boreal summer.
During this migration, we discovered the routes, roosting sites, distances and timing for each of the birds as they passed through both hemispheres. We followed each bird back to their presumed northern breeding sites, completing their spring cycles.
In July, Arena’s transmitter failed and we lost contact with her.

- The Autumn Chase South:

In September, we selected one adult female, Linda, and attempted to follow her south. The plan was to parallel her route via truck as much as possible during her flight back to South America. However, she proved to be a very late migrant and took an unexpectedly long period of time to move south. Due to time constraints, we had to continue on south without her. In addition, she chose to migrate down the eastern seaboard, guaranteeing that she would cross the Caribbean Sea and effectively prevent us from following her by ground vehicle.
So we drove the truck south to Texas, into Mexico and across Central America to Panama. From there, we shipped it to Chile for the next phase of the study.

- La Serena Breeds In Chile:

In the meantime, our colleagues in Chile followed the resident adult female at La Serena and discovered her nest in the Andean foothills. She succeeded in raising two young peregrines this year. This was the first time that a peregrine had been followed to her nest in South America by satellite transmitter.

-Searching for Tundra Migrants in Chile:

In December, FRG advance team members Zach Smith, his wife Elizabeth, Kathryn Gunther and Mark Hopey arrived in Chile and spent two weeks surveying for tundra peregrines in the coastal areas of Chile from near Santiago south to Puerto Montt.
Their goal was to locate the southernmost migrant peregrines in the world and to provide information on these birds to the satellite-tagging team arriving in January. They discovered that such birds are unexpectedly rare in this region of Chile, locating only four peregrines suitable for tagging.

-Follow Our Field Team in Chile During January:

On 8 January, Mark Prostor and Bud Anderson will fly to Chile and join Kathryn Gunther for a two week banding effort. Our goal will be to capture and tag the falcons located by the FRG advance team. We expect his part of the project to be very challenging. Tundra falcons are rare and it is not easy to capture them. However, because of our special interest in this group of truly “deep” peregrines, we will make our best effort to tag them.
We plan to provide daily field reports to our members during this trip via the FRG website (http://www.frg.org/), so check out the site beginning around 10 January.

Proposed FRG Panama Hawk Tour

During the trip south, I spent 11 days in Panama and fell in love with the place. I also met a variety of bird people including Guido Berguido, a supporter of the hawk migration project and owner of a birding tour company in Panama City, Advantage Tours.
We decided to see if we could organize a Panama tour among FRG members for next November. So I am querying the membership. How many would be interested in a 7-10 day tour to visit the best birding country in Central America? Although we would emphasize raptors (Harpys, Ornate Hawk-eagles, Bat Falcons, etc), we’d also go for the many other species that can be found there (from Toucans to Three-toed Sloths).
We need a minimum of 8 people for the trip. If you are interested, contact Bud by e-mail (bud@frg.org) for more information on prices and itinerary. Amazing place!

Hawkwatching Classes

This 5 session class is a traditional point for entry into the world of raptors in western WA and still one of the best ways to get involved with hawks through our FRG field projects. Please pass on this information to friends, family and potential hawkwatchers.

The following is the class date and location information:

5 Feb-4 March in Bellingham at the Whatcom County Museum on Tuesday nights.

- and-

14 Feb-13 March in Mt. Vernon at the Padilla bay Interpretive Center on Thursday nights.

Cost is $135.00 per person. To reserve your space, please send a check to the FRG, Box 248, Bow, WA 98232. For more information, contact Bud at (360) 757-1911.

Annual Dues

Once again, if you like what we are doing and would like to help the FRG, we’d appreciate your support. Dues are $25.00 per year. You can send a check to FRG, Box 248, Bow, WA 98232. Happy New Year to you all.

2007 Winter Bulletin

noreply@blogger.com (PanamPEFA) — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 16:37:00 +0000

The Southern Cross Peregrine Expedition:

Our recent fund-raising effort is a tremendous success. We had 197 members donate funds to purchase 8 transmitters for the Southern Cross Expedition. Amounts ranged from $10.00 to $5,000, and each one of them was important to us. So thank you all.

As a result of your generosity and vision, our multi-national team of experts will converge on southern Chile in late February. This includes Tom Maechtle, Mark Prostor, Kathy Gunther, Zach Smith, and Bud Anderson from the US, Christian Gonzalez from Chile, and Jesus Garcia Ubierna, from the Canary Islands in Spain.

The best news is that, in addition to the 8 transmitters that you have provided, Dr. Keith Bildstein (Hawk Mountain Sanctuary) and Dr. Mike McGrady (Natural Resources LTD) have donated two more. These two will be placed on adult males, as little is known about their migration. Another two units were donated by an anonymous source for a total of 12 transmitters, far more than we had expected.

I’d like to thank you all once again. I sincerely hope that you will all be pleased with our results over the next few years.

In addition, we are going to incorporate another exciting new element into this project. Our web gurus, Mark Prostor, Don McCall and Pat Little are all working hard to update the FRG website (www.frg.org) so we can provide daily reports from Chile during the banding effort in February and March. We want to share our results as they are happening with all of you who were so kind to us. We will be well out in the field so we can’t promise we’ll get reports to the web on a daily basis, but we are going to try our best. So please stay tuned in late February and early March to see how it goes.

Again, sincere thanks to everyone for your support.

Entiat Ridge Experimental Hawk Banding Station:

Our skilled, dedicated and wild spirited team of volunteers, lead by Martin Muller and Mark Gleason, set another new record at Entiat Ridge last fall. They banded 395 migrant raptors, including 212 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 89 Cooper’s Hawks, 33 Red-tailed Hawks, 22 Merlins, 19 American Kestrels, 9 Northern Goshawks, 6 Peregrine Falcons, 5 Prairie Falcons and 1 Rough-legged Hawk (bold indicates new records). This was our sixth and most productive year at Entiat, 9 miles NE of Leavenworth, WA.

We also had a record number of both new volunteers and visitors to our mountain site. It became clearly apparent that we have outgrown our blind and will need to expand in size next fall.

Thank you to everyone involved, especially our trappers, for all of your help. Thanks to both Longview Fibre for their continued permission to conduct the study on their land and Eagle Creek Ranch for their logistical support.

Success At Last for the Ladies Tea and Trapping Society:

This year at Entiat, a finely-honed, all woman team lead by Susie Q. Hindman and Dalene Keith managed to set a long-sought new record for the number of hawks banded in a single day at our station. They caught and banded 26 raptors, surpassing our old record handily. Congratulations to them all. The men stand with our heads held down in shame. At least until next year.

Skagit Flats Annual Winter Hawk Count:

The count will take place on Saturday, 10 February from 9-11 AM. As usual, meet at the Padilla Bay Center after you complete your route. The count is being coordinated this year by Ed Deal (Seattle) and Roger Johnson (Sedro Woolley). They will be contacting the route leaders soon. If you are new to the count and would like to participate, please contact Ed (206) 723-4742 or Roger at (360) 856-0870.

New Raptor Book:

I’d like to bring this book to the attention of all FRG members. The Raptors of California, by Hans and Pam Peeters and published by the University of California (2005)is, to me, the single best raptor book ever published. The artwork alone is superb and worth the price of the book. But more importantly, the information and insights are excellent and are obviously the result of a lifetime dedicated to observing and living with raptors. This little book is what all raptor books want to be when they grow up. See more of his art work at www.peeters.homestead.com and look under raptor paintings.

San Juan Island Peregrines:

We continued to monitor the San Juan Island (SJI) breeding population of peregrines last summer. This was the 31st year of the survey. Our goals have always been to gather accurate data on the number of active pairs present, their production of young and to identify the types of prey species they utilize. We basically want to understand what goes on among peregrines in the San Juans and to make sure they are doing OK.

This year, the islands still supported 20 occupied territories although some shifting among sites occurred. Observers found three new active cliffs but three others became unoccupied. All of the pairs use natural cliff sites. From 28 May through 8 July, we banded 33 eyasses (nestlings) at 12 eyries, a new record for islands and for the strikingly handsome, manly and stalwart SJI banding team (Martin Muller, Ed Deal, Mark Prostor and Bud Anderson).

Our purpose is to discover what happens to these birds, e.g. where do they go, how long do they live and what kills them. This was the twelfth year we have banded eyasses in the islands. Our total there is now 253 nestling peregrines.

FRG Website Wants Your Photos:

Pat Little suggests giving our members the opportunity to contribute their favorite three digital raptor photos to the FRG website. If you’d like your photos to represent our organization (with acknowledgement), please send them directly to Pat at redtail@cablespeed.com. Add date, location and description if possible.

Long-billed Hawk Update:

More good news! USGS toxicologist, Dr. Chuck Henny, has arranged a small grant to support some much- needed clinical research on long-billed hawks. He is directing it to Dr. Lindsay Oaks, of WSU. Lindsay is a veterinarian and virologist with great experience working with raptors. He famously discovered the cause of the recent vulture deaths in SE Asia.

Our banding team is now starting to capture local long-billed Red-tails to send to WSU for examination. This is an excellent start towards discovering the cause of the syndrome.

In the meantime, Buzz Hull of the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory in CA, reports the first long-bill record in a Red-shouldered Hawk and another source in Boise reports the first long-billed Barn Owl.

New FRG Logo:

Our new logo depicts a migrant adult female tundra Peregrine Falcon. It was painted by Hans Peeters, a renowned US raptor artist www.peeters.homestead.com and very kindly donated to our Southern Cross Peregrine Expedition. The painting depicts the type of migrant falcon we will be tagging in Chile in February/March. Thank you Hans.

We added a compass rose for two reasons. First, throughout history, a compass rose has always accompanied great adventures. Second, it symbolizes the compass direction our birds will fly to South America.

Hawkwatching Classes:

I’ll be presenting our traditional FRG class, Hawkwatching in Western Washington, in Seattle, Mt. Vernon and Bellingham this year. Please pass on the information to friends, family and potential hawkwatchers. This is still one of the best ways to get involved with hawks through our FRG field projects.

City/Location	Date	Location
Seattle	17 Jan.-14 Feb.	Discovery Park visitor Center
Mt. Vernon	18 Jan.-15 Feb.	Padilla Bay Interpretive Center
Bellingham	30 Jan.-27 Feb.	Whatcom County Museum

Cost is still $135.00 per person. To reserve your space, please send a check to the FRG, Box 248, Bow, WA 98232. For more information, contact Bud at (360) 757-1911 or bud@frg.org

Annual Dues:

For those of you that kindly contributed to the Southern Cross Peregrine Expedition, please skip this part of the newsletter. You have already donated this year. For everyone else, if you like what we are doing and would like to help the FRG, we’d appreciate your support.

Dues are $25.00 per year. You can send a check to FRG, Box 248, Bow, WA 98232. Happy New Year to you all.

A Final Note:

The FRG is staffed almost entirely by a group of very dedicated volunteers. I wanted to say thank you to everyone (named and unnamed) and let you know that I deeply appreciate your efforts. You are very important to the successful operation of the organization as you can clearly see from the work described in this newsletter.

If any of you have any questions about hawks or the FRG, I look forward to hearing from you in the future.

Sincerely, Bud Andersen
FRG President

2006 Winter Bulletin

noreply@blogger.com (PanamPEFA) — Sun, 01 Jan 2006 19:33:00 +0000

The Passing of Bell

For many years, thousands of people watched the events at the Washington Mutual Tower in Seattle as two peregrines raised their young on a high ledge of the building. The female was named Bell and she was an amazing bird. She enthralled so many people with her beauty, her grace and even her ferocity. Her image went all over the world via the Internet (it was the first live peregrine nest-cam) thanks to Mark Prostor and the many people at the Washington Mutual Tower , including Ray Congdon, Denise Kolb and Jeff Kasowski. She became an unofficial mascot of the city and a regular feature on local TV stations each spring and summer. Literally thousands of people in Seattle saw her live on the TV monitor in the lobby of the Washington Mutual Bank on Third Avenue , thanks to manager Bob Strauss. She became one of the most studied peregrines in the world as a dedicated team of volunteers led by Ruth Taylor video-taped her behavior in detail every year. A popular children’s book was written by Linda Birman about Stewart, her mate.

Bell first showed up at the Bank in August 1994 and remained there for ten years. She and Stewart produced a total of 26 fledglings (2.6 young per year), raising young in eight of the ten years.

From banding records, we know that her offspring dispersed as far south as Los Angeles and Portland and north to Vancouver , BC . Several others remained in the local area.

One of her 2001 offspring, a male, is currently breeding on the I-5 Ship Canal Bridge, not far from WAMU. Another of her young, a 2002 male (E-7), bred on Mercer Island for two years, producing 5 young. Still another 2000 female (SY) bred in the San Juan Islands but was killed by a Raccoon, apparently while defending her young in 2004. A “grandson” is now living on the Ballard Bridge.

Bell last nested in 2004 when she raised her final four young. She disappeared shortly thereafter, presumably after the death of Stewart in 2003. Last summer, on 27 July 2005 , Ruth Taylor confirmed that a banded peregrine found dead on top of the Watermark Tower in Seattle was indeed Bell . Her cause of death was unknown.

We all have a certain number of years to live and to contribute to life. Bell had her number and what a wonderful contribution she made to literally thousands of children and adults as she taught us all about the beauty and magnificence of peregrines right in our own backyard. She was an exceptional falcon.

Long-billed Hawk Update

The long-bill syndrome causes accelerated and often grotesque growth in the beaks of birds, eventually resulting in starvation. We now have 105 records of long-billed raptors including Red-tailed Hawks, Rough-legged Hawks, a Ferruginous Hawk, Bald Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, Crested Caracara, and Sharp-shinned Hawk. The majority of records involve Red-tails in western Washington . New reports are coming in almost weekly.

We are continuing to publicize the syndrome to raise awareness of the problem. I have given presentations to the annual Raptor Research Foundation meeting, the Wildlife Society, the Washington Rehabilitation Council and Audubon chapters in Bellingham , Mt. Vernon , San Juan Island , Seattle and Olympia . I will present a paper at the national meeting of wildlife rehabilitators in March in California.

We have been consulting with several experts on the condition in an attempt to discover its cause. In January, the worlds’ leading raptor veterinarian, Dr. Pat Redig, at the University of Minnesota , agreed to look at the histopathology of the keratin-producing cells in long-bills. I regard this as a major step forward.

The syndrome also appears to be spreading to other bird species in our state and elsewhere. We have received reports of long-billed American Crows, Glaucous-winged Gulls, European Starlings, Northern Flickers, a Steller’s Jay, a Bewick’s Wren, and a Common Murre, all from Washington.

Working in association with USGS biologist Colleen Handel and Michigan passerine bander, Julie Craves, we have now documented the long-billed syndrome in over 110 North American species of birds, primarily passerines. Records range from Florida to Baja California , Alaska to Maine and several provinces in Canada . There are also records from Europe , South Africa and Argentina . Of course, it is not known if all of these examples are caused by the same phenomenon.

You can help by being aware of the syndrome and reporting any birds that you see that have long-bills. Keep in mind it is no longer limited to just hawks.

The Entiat Ridge 2005 Fall Hawk Migration

We had a record season at Entiat Ridge last fall. Our team banded 349 birds of prey over the 6 week study period (28 August-15 October). We caught 10 species of raptors including 3 Northern Harriers, 206 Sharp-shinned Hawks (record), 71 Cooper’s Hawks (record), 7 Northern Goshawks, 14 Red-tailed Hawks, 1 Golden Eagle, 12 American Kestrels, 28 Merlins (record), 1 Peregrine Falcon and 6 Prairie Falcons (record).

We want to thank the Longview Fibre Company for permission to conduct our study on their land. In particular, we would like to extend our appreciation to Jim McCracken, Steve Tift, and Ron Simon.

The Entiat Ridge Experimental Hawk Banding Station is an entirely volunteer-driven project and would simply not have been possible without the support, dedication, hard work (and gas money) of the following 25 people;

Rik and Nora Adams, Gretchen Albrecht, Carolyn Brannen, Kelly Cordell, Ray Cruz, Ed Deal, John Deliduka, Mike and Vicki Elledge, Mark Gleason, Vivian Gross, Kathy Gunther, Karen Haire, Sue Hindman, Dalene Keith, Pat Little, Marti Louther, Megan Lyden, Don McCall, Martin Muller, Von Pope, Emma Lux, Melissa Sherwood, and Jim Shiflett.

A detailed report of our results at Entiat Ridge over the last 5 years can be found on our website at http://www.frg.org.

Annual Skagit Flats Hawk Census

The Skagit Hawk Count will take place this year on Saturday 11 February ( 9-11 am ). Bob Merrick has passed the coordination of the census on to Roger Johnson (360) 856-0870 in Sedro Woolley and Ed Deal (206) 723-4742 in Seattle, so, team leaders, please make note of these new contact numbers.

I thank Bob for his many years of gracious administration of the count, his humor, efficiency and wonderful generosity of spirit. You are appreciated greatly.

Hawk Watching Classes

I will be teaching the introductory course, Hawkwatching in Western Washington in Mt. Vernon and Bellingham this winter. Since most of you have already taken this class, please pass the information along to your friends. It runs 5 weeks, one night a week, plus the usual day-long field trip. Cost remains $135.00. To register, please send a check to the FRG, Box 248 , Bow , WA , 98232. For more information, please contact Bud Anderson at (360) 757-1911 or his e-mail bud@frg.org.

Class Schedules:

- Bellingham Class (Whatcom Museum) -- 31 Jan. - 28 February 2007
Tuesdays 7:00-9:30 PM

- Mt. Vernon Class (Padilla Bay Center) -- 2 February - 2 March 2007
Thursdays 7:00-9:30 PM

The Merlin Saga Continues...

Until recently, little was known about Merlins nesting in our state since historic breeding records are almost non-existent. This situation changed dramatically in 2000 when Merlins suddenly moved into Bellingham and nested in a residential part of town. Since then, the breeding population has expanded into several other cities, including Mt. Vernon , Anacortes, Stanwood, Marysville, and Lake Stevens . In addition, there are two current breeding records from eastern Washington.

In 2005, Kevin Mack reported a recently fledged Merlin (with down still on its head) that was rescued from a bucket of water in Lynnwood . It had apparently been trying to bathe. This indicates that Merlins were breeding in the Lynnwood area in 2005.

We also received several sightings of Merlins in Seattle last summer. Most were from the Ballard and Wedgewood areas. We have long suspected that Merlins are breeding in town but this remains to be confirmed.

As Merlins continue their expansion south, it is just a matter of time before they become a Seattle resident. Give us a call should you encounter them.

San Juan Peregrines

We’ve been studying the San Juan Island peregrine population since 1976. Over the years, we have documented their recovery as the post-DDT number of pairs increased from 0 in 1976 to 20 in 2002. Since 1995, our team has been banding the young at these nests in an attempt to learn more about their dispersal, movements and site fidelity. To date, through the extraordinary efforts of our peregrine climbing team (Martin Muller, Ed Deal, Kathy Gunther, Mark Prostor and Wendy Gibble), we have banded 220 San Juan eyasses (nestlings). Last summer, we observed an unexpected and severe reduction in productivity among the island peregrines. Of the 20 known pairs, only 5 produced young, a 75% failure rate, and the highest we have observed thus far. In a normal year, we will generally have failures at 3-5 sites. In some cases, we have been able to determine the causes of these failures. They are usually related to the weather (rainwater in the nest) or predation (raccoons/fox). Unfortunately, we do not know what caused the majority of failures in 2005. It may have been caused by an exceptionally wet spring (if rain saturates the nest scrape, it kills the eggs). But failure may also have been caused by other factors (e.g. pollutants) although we have no direct evidence of this at this time. We will continue to monitor the pairs again this summer.

Urban Peregrines

Breeding peregrines have successfully “colonized” most major cities on the west coast of North America . Here in western Washington , they currently nest in Everett, Seattle (4 pairs), Mercer Island , Tacoma (3 pairs), Bremerton and Olympia . Ed Deal reports two more new pairs now forming in Seattle.

Last summer, we banded 10 chicks at 4 of these sites, 3 nests in Seattle and 1 in Tacoma . Pairs failed in Seattle (1), Olympia (1), Mercer Island (1) and Everett (1).

We’d like to especially acknowledge the assistance of the Washington State Department of Transportation in banding falcon chicks on local bridges.

Everett Ospreys

Everett Harbor supports the densest known concentration of breeding Ospreys in Washington . Discovered by Ed Schulz in the 1990’s, the harbor has approximately 26 pairs nesting on pilings and “dolphins” (multiple pilings lashed together).

We began banding young at Everett in 2002. Over three seasons, we banded 38 (2002), 23 (2003) and 35 (2005) young, or a total of 96 nestlings. To date, we have received only one band return from the west coast of Mexico.

This year, with assistance from Ed, we also relocated two Osprey chicks from a cell tower nest at Sea-Tac to two different wild nests in Everett . The purpose was to move these young safely away from the nearby approach pattern of jet aircraft.

Sea-Tac Bird Strike Program

The FRG began working with Port of Seattle Biologist , Steve Osmek, in June 2001. We developed a raptor management program to address the issue of potential hawk strikes at Sea-Tac. Our primary goal was to identify and relocate any transient hawks that occurred at the airport. The program has proven to be successful. So far, we have captured 122 raptors at the airport, including 77 Red-tailed Hawks, 22 American Kestrels, 14 Coopers Hawks, 3 Great Horned Owls, 3 Ospreys, 2 Sharp-shinned Hawks and one Peregrine Falcon. The majority of these birds (immature Red-tails) were relocated to the Samish Flats area 75 miles north of the runways. Their naiveté around jet aircraft makes them more vulnerable to strikes. To date, none of the relocated raptors are known to have returned to Sea-Tac. We presented a paper summarizing our Sea-Tac methods and results at the National BirdStrike Conference in Vancouver , BC , last summer.

Annual Dues

It is once again time to send in your dues and donations. Dues of $25 per year ensure notification of FRG events, classes and this newsletter. Donations are warmly welcomed to underwrite these and other FRG research programs. Thank you for your support.

A Final Note

The FRG is staffed almost entirely by a group of very dedicated volunteers. I wanted to say thank you to everyone (named and unnamed) and let you know that I deeply appreciate your efforts. You are very important to the successful operation of the organization as you can clearly see from the work described in this newsletter.

If any of you have any questions about hawks or the FRG, I look forward to hearing from you in the future.

Sincerely,

Bud Andersen
FRG President

2005 Winter Bulletin

noreply@blogger.com (PanamPEFA) — Sat, 01 Jan 2005 19:12:00 +0000

I want to begin by thanking all of you for your continuing support. Over the last 20 years, the FRG could not have conducted our projects without the help, dedication and inspiration of its many members and supporters. Sincere thanks to all of you.

Update on Long-billed Red-tails

As many of you know, there is a new and troubling problem developing among West Coast hawks. The long-billed syndrome is characterized by an excessive (and often grotesque) growth of keratin in the beaks of the affected birds. First discovered in Red-tails on the Skagit in 1997, we now have 60 records of long-billed hawks and the list keeps growing. Photos of the 4 categories of deformed beaks can be seen on our web-site at www.frg.org.

The records now include 55 Red-tailed Hawks, 2 Rough-legged Hawks, 1 Ferruginous Hawk and 2 Peregrine Falcons. The falcons were both fall migrants caught in 2004 in Minnesota and Texas (i.e. origin unknown). At this time, the condition appears to be limited to the West Coast of North America, specifically from Richmond, British Columbia to Los Angeles, California, but no one really has any idea of just how far it extends. Most of our records are from northwestern Washington.

The condition occurs both among males/females and resident/migrant hawks. Until recently, we thought it only affected adult birds. However, we now have an example of a juvenile long-billed RTHA, demonstrating that the syndrome can occur much earlier than we thought. We have also seen it in 3 different second-year Red-tails.

The cause of the syndrome is unknown. It could be an environmental contaminant, a virus, a disease, a fungus or something new. We know that it kills hawks by impeding their ability to feed, i.e. through starvation. No one knows how many birds have died as a result but we suggest that 60 known records indicate that it is becoming a major problem.

If you would like to assist in our study of the syndrome, please report all observations of long-billed hawks (or birds of any species, including passerines at your feeder) to the FRG. Second, when you are in the field, take time to really look closely at both Red-tails and Rough-legs (surprisingly few people do anymore). Keep in mind that the condition can be difficult to detect in its early stages. You need to be fairly close and take a really good look at the profile to see it. A good scope is essential.

Finally, and I have never asked this of our membership before, if you know or are associated with a foundation, corporate sponsor or potential donor that might want to help with this problem, please let us know. We will direct a proposal to them to fund research on this problem. I am asking because I sincerely believe that this may be the most serious threat to our local raptors since DDT. Thanks for your help.

2004 Entiat Ridge Fall Migration Results

This was our fourth season at Entiat Ridge (near Leavenworth) and Mark Gleason and his stalwart crew of hawk banders had their second best year so far. Over the six week study period (29 August-15 October) they captured, banded and released 235 migrant birds of prey, including 129 Sharp-shins, 53 Cooper’s Hawks, 14 Northern Goshawks (a new record for us), 15 Red-tailed Hawks, 12 American Kestrels, 7 Merlins, 2 Peregrine falcons, 1 Prairie Falcon, 1 Northern Harrier, and our first ever Golden Eagle at Entiat. It was caught by Martin Muller, alone. Quite a handful for one guy. Good job Martin.

The team has now caught a total of 989 raptors at Entiat over the last 4 years, i.e. 217, 309, 228 and 235 respectively.

Special thanks are due to the intrepid FRG banding team that made this happen, including Dalene Keith, Martin Muller, Emma Lux, Ed Deal, Cindy Willis, Dennis Ryan, Ray Cruz, Don McCall, Rik Adams, Marti Louther, Pat Little, Jack Bettesworth, Sue Hindman, Tim Boyer, Megan Lyden, Kathy Gunther, John Deliduka, Donald Kent, Jim Shiflett, Tim Aimes, Gretchen Albrecht, Ruth Taylor, Simone Cooke, Jerry Van Vleck and Vivian Gross, our wonderful scheduler.

Nesting Merlins

Until recently, nesting Merlins were as scarce as hen’s teeth in Washington. The first city nesting in our state took place in Bellingham, 2000. As predicted, Merlins have been expanding southward into other cities ever since (Mt.Vernon, Stanwood). Last summer, we received new reports of family groups from Anacortes, Marysville and the Lake Stevens area. Heads up Seattle, they are coming your way soon. Listen for the food begging of young in July. It is unmistakable. Two pairs have also been found nesting in eastern Washington.

And a final note on raptor terminology. Merlins have never been and are not now known as “Merlin Falcons” despite recent promotion of this term. The correct term is simply “Merlin”.

Hawk Classes

We will be presenting our annual class, Hawkwatching in Western Washington, in both Mt. Vernon and Bellingham (but not Seattle) this winter. The Bellingham class will begin on Tuesday nights (7-9:30) at the Whatcom County Museum (25 January-22 February) and the Mt. V. class will be held on Thursday nights at the Padilla Bay Interpretive Center (27 January-24 February). To register, please send a check for $135.00 to the FRG at the address shown above. Direct any questions to bud@frg.org or call (360) 757-1911. Please pass this info on to your birding/hawk friends.

Sixteenth Annual Skagit Flats Hawk Census

The annual hawk count will be held on Saturday, 12 February (9-11AM) this year. Please mark your calendars. Contact the count coordinator, Bob Merrick, at (360) 678-3161 or preferably by e-mail (tinekesfam@aol.com) to participate.

After the census, Bud Anderson will present a current update on long-billed hawks. In addition, when on your route, please keep an eye out for long-billed RTHAs and RLHAs.

San Juan Peregrines

The San Juan Islands peregrine population continues to be an instructive example of what happens to a “normal” group of breeding peregrines living around a temperate, salt-water environment. Keep in mind that as a result of the DDT era, there is precious little historical information on what a “normal” population does in Washington. So we keep on learning what that looks like.

This year, 17 of the 20 (85%) pairs attempted to breed. Among the 17, only 10 pairs (50%) hatched young and started to raise them. Predators (most likely raccoon or fox) hit three eyries and at one of these (hit late in the season) the predator ate only one of two young. The other managed to fledge and was seen on Whidbey Island on 5 January by Bob Merrick and Jack Bettesworth.

The eight successful pairs (40%) produced 19 young, or 2.36 young per successful pair.

First Falconry Take of Nestling Peregrines in Washington

Last summer, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and USFWS authorized the first take of nestling peregrines for falconry since the 1960’s. Three permits were issued to falconers and three birds were taken, one from Whatcom County, one from Skagit County and one from Pierce County. All are doing well at this time.

Since the peregrine population has grown to an unprecedented high number (over 100 known active nests in Washington), the state and federal agencies determined that the population could easily handle a take of three falcons.

As experts on the West Side nesting peregrine population, FRG members participated in the San Juan harvest, providing technical and logistical support and ensuring that the bird was taken in a safe and professional manner.

Urban Peregrines

This year, the "city peregrines" did better than the "wild pairs" we are monitoring. Eleven falcon pairs now inhabit Everett (1), Bellevue (1), Seattle (5), Tacoma (2), Bremerton (1) and Olympia (1). Eight pairs (73%) produced 22 young in 2004, or 2.75 young per successful pair. Two pairs were new this year (Floating Bridge and Tacoma Narrows), two others failed (Everett and West Seattle) and at a third site (Bremerton) four eggs were taken by the Portland Audubon Society and one young successfully hatched and released in Oregon.

The famous Tacoma pair (the most aggressive peregrines I have experienced) produced 5 young (!) this year, the first time this has been recorded in Washington. While banding the chicks in May, Martin Muller and I deterred this aggressive pair by using a new high- tech technique (umbrellas) to keep them from striking us. The Tacoma police have apparently dubbed us the “Mary Poppins” crew. But it works.

The 2004 Anacortes Great Gray Owl

Great Gray Owls are one of the rarest species of owls in western Washington. They occur sporadically in winter but little is known about where they come from.

Last winter, a Great Gray was found wintering on Gibraltar Road near Anacortes. We were able to place a tail-mounted radio transmitter on the bird and Jim Shiflett volunteered to track it north as he had done twice before in past years.

The bird began its northward migration on 17 February 2004. It flew NE to Bayview, then to Lake Samish and Bellingham before moving into Canada. Jim followed the owl through the coast range and into interior British Columbia, where it finally stopped near Kamloops. So at least two of our local wintering Great Grays originate from interior BC.

Annual Dues

It is time once again to send in your annual FRG dues of $25.00. In addition, this year donations of all kinds are also needed as we prepare to address the long-billed hawk problem. We can use all the help we can get on this one. It is so very important. Thanks in advance for your support.

Winter 2004 Bulletin

noreply@blogger.com (PanamPEFA) — Thu, 01 Jan 2004 19:15:00 +0000

Entiat Ridge Fall Hawk Migration Results

Last fall, 34 FRG volunteers conducted our third annual hawk-banding project at Entiat Ridge in the Cascade Mountains near Leavenworth, Washington. Coordinated by Mark Gleason, the project ran for 48 days from 1 September through 18 October.

The team caught, banded and released 228 raptors (9 species). As usual, the majority was accipiters (82%), confirming that the best place to learn your accipiters is at a fall banding station. The total included 145 Sharp-shinned Hawks (64%), 39 Cooper’s Hawks (17%), 2 Northern Goshawks, 6 American Kestrels, 11 Merlins, 3 Peregrine Falcons, 2 Prairie Falcons, 2 Northern Harriers, and 18 Red-tailed Hawks.

Many thanks to team leaders Mark Gleason, Martin Muller, Mike and Vickie Elledge, Sue Hindman, Kathy Gunther and Ed Deal. They were ably assisted by Rik Adams, Gretchen Albrecht, Steve Biber, Tim Boyer, Carolyn and George Brannen, Ray Cruz, John Deliduka, Lou Ann Harris, Mary Hogan, Mitsuhiro Kawase, Donald Kent, Dalene Keith, Lee Kincaid, Pat Little, Megan Lyden, Roger Orness, Don McCall, Bryan McCormick, Jim Shiflett, Megan and Jeremy Strahler, Ruth Taylor, Matt Treat, Shirley Vanderveen, Jerry Van Vleck and especially Vivian Gross who ran the schedule.

We have now banded a total of 754 fall migrant hawks at Entiat Ridge, 217 in 2001 (29%), 309 in 2002 (41%) and 228 in 2003 (30%).

We would like to once again extend our gratitude to the Longview Fibre Company for permission to continue this work on their property at Entiat Ridge.

Annual Skagit Flats Valentines Day Hawk Census

The fifteenth annual FRG hawk count will be held on Saturday, 14 February, this year. As usual, the survey will take place from 9-11 am with a meeting at the Padilla Bay Center afterwards. If you are a team leader or a new member and would like to participate in the survey, please contact the count coordinator, Bob Merrick, at (360) 678-3161. See you there.

Great Gray Owls

Great Gray Owls are a relatively rare species in western Washington, but every so often a small movement of these northern owls makes its way south into the Puget Sound basin. This year, 2 have been reported in Vancouver, BC, and at least two more in Skagit County. No doubt others remain to be discovered.

This winter, we plan to radio-tag one of these birds and attempt to follow it north into Canada and discover its nesting area. Several years ago, we were able to follow one tagged adult back to its nesting area near Williams Lake, BC.

Padre Island Peregrine Survey

Over a century ago, a large movement of fall migrant peregrine falcons along the Texas gulf coast was described by ornithologists. Later, during the 1950’s, the late falconer, Colonel Luff Meredith, began to study what ultimately became the largest known peregrine migration in the world.

Every fall, thousands of peregrines move south along the coastal beaches of Texas en route to their winter territories in Latin America. Over the last 30 years, a team of falcon specialists has conducted a long-term study of these birds at South Padre Island, a barrier island off the coast of south Texas. The current leader of the team, Tom Maechtle, reports that the team has captured and banded approximately 8,000 peregrines at Padre during this period.

The Falcon Research Group is an active supporter of this effort. Bud Anderson often joins the fall effort as part of the FRG mission to support field research and the conservation of raptors. Last fall, during the 4-week period from 25 September to 25 October, the team caught 171 falcons and obtained blood samples from 150 individual birds for a study of West Nile Virus.

We plan to continue supporting the study in future years.

More on Long-billed Red-tailed Hawks

Six winters ago, Bud Anderson discovered a dead adult Red-tailed Hawk on the Samish Flats of Washington. The bird was emaciated and had obviously starved to death. Its beak had grown so long that the hawk could no longer open its mouth completely and feed in a normal manner. This condition was quite remarkable and had never been reported in Red-tails. We have put some photos of these birds on our website at http://www.frg.org . so you can see what they look like.

Since then, we have observed, captured or had reports of another 14 "long-billed" Red-tails in the northern Puget Sound area. Three of these (two with very long bills) have been reported this winter from Whidbey Island (Bob Merrick), the Samish Flats (Bob Merrick) and Seattle-Tacoma Airport (Bud Anderson). Last year, Dennis Ryan and Cindy Willis reported another bird from Whidbey Island whose upper beak was so long that it had crossed completely over the mandible. As I write this on 5 January, I have just received an e-mail from Sandy Gibbs reporting another long-bill from Camano Island.

To our knowledge, the condition appears to be limited to the Puget Sound Basin at this time. We have reports ranging north from the Fraser River Delta in British Columbia (1) to the Seattle-Tacoma Airport in the south and from Whidbey Island (west) to Conway (east).

At present, we don’t know what causes this condition. Speculation has included environmental pollutants, cattle growth hormones, herbicides, viruses, fungi, dietary deficiencies, and acid rain. Whatever it is seems to cause the horn (keratin) covering of the bill to either grow faster or become harder thereby reducing what Dr. Steve Herman calls the "miracle of abrasion" in bird beaks.

We have only seen this condition in adult, not immature, Red-tails. This suggests that the long beak may take some time to develop, perhaps years. At present, we are also trying to determine if long bills occur in both resident and wintering Red-tails.

We would like to once again ask for your help in this investigation. During your hawk watching activities, please look closely at local Red-tails that you see. Try to examine their beaks (preferably in profile) and if you observe one of the "long-bills", please contact us with the date and location. It will help us define how extensive the problem is. Thanks in advance.

Two Peregrine Band Returns

Last summer on 1 June, Martin Muller and Bud Anderson banded an eyass Peregrine Falcon at a nest site in the San Juan Islands. During the fall migration study at Entiat Ridge on 7 September, Martin captured a juvenile peregrine, one of only three caught at the ridge last year. The falcon was already wearing a black VID band. When we checked, we found that it was the same nestling that he had banded 3 months earlier in the islands. The eyrie was 135 miles northwest of the banding station. Remarkable event.

In 2003, a new pair of peregrines started a nest on the I-90 Freeway Bridge at Mercer Island. With the permission of Mike McDonald and the Washington State Department of Transportation, we banded two young falcons on 10 June. One bird later fledged and landed below the bridge in Lake Washington, a potentially fatal situation. It either swam ashore or was rescued. We were notified, caught the bird and released her later in the day at the site. She flew off beautifully after her mishap.

On 10 December, this falcon was reported flying around the Portland International Airport, approximately 180 miles south by our colleague, Carol Hallet.

Winter Hawkwatching Classes

This winter, we will be holding two hawkwatching classes, one in Bellingham (Whatcom County Museum) and one in Mt. Vernon (Padilla Bay Interpretive Center). Bellingham will begin on Tuesday nights starting on 25 January at 7pm. Mt. Vernon will be held on Wednesday nights beginning on 26 January. Field trips will take place in early March. Please pass this information along to your friends, fellow birders and family.

To reserve your space for either class, please send a check for $135.00 to the Falcon Research Group at the above address.

Note: The Seattle class was already held in November last year.

Annual Dues

Your annual FRG dues for 2004 help support activities like those described in this newsletter. If you would like to contribute further to these efforts, please send $25.00 to the Falcon Research Group, Box 248, Bow, WA 98232. Thank you for your support.

2003 Summer Bulletin

noreply@blogger.com (PanamPEFA) — Wed, 16 Jul 2003 17:37:00 +0000

Fall Hawk Banding Class

For those of you wanting to learn how to catch fall migrant hawks, we will be holding a one day class for a limited number of people in both Seattle (Saturday, 16 August) and Mt. Vernon (Sunday 17 August) from 9-2 pm.

The class will cover in-hand ID (especially accipiters), aging and sexing, how to trap, weigh, measure and handle wild hawks, and what goes on at a banding station.

The class will be taught by Mark Gleason, Ed Deal, Martin Muller and Bud Anderson all experienced hawk trappers and members of the Entiat Ridge Experimental Hawk Banding Station.

This is our official introduction to the Entiat project. After completion of the class, you will be qualified to join the group at the blind near Leavenworth for an on-going, 6-week study of the fall hawk migration. Your role will be to extract birds from the traps, process them and release them safely. We will also be scouting out some new locations adjacent to the ridge for a second banding station. You'll be helping to determine how many birds occur at these locations.

To register, please send $100 to the Falcon Research Group, Box 248, Bow, WA 98232. Proceeds from the class go to support the project.

Last fall, our team banded 309 raptors of 10 species. Stalwart team members included Rik Adams, Gretchen Albrecht, Ann Fleck, Sara and Geoff Clark, Ray Cruz, Ed Deal, John Deliduka, Dean Drugge, Mike and Vicki Elledge, Fiona and Mark Gleason, Vivian Gross, Kathy Gunther, Susie Hindman, Sue Hoyer, Mitsuhiro Kawase, Dalene Keith, Pat Little, Marti Louther, Emma Lux, Don McCall, Martin Muller, Christy Mann, Roger Orness, Mary Pearson, Jim Shiftlett, Ruth Taylor, Dolly Turner, Shirley Vanderveen and Dennis Weeks. Thank you to everyone that participated on the 2002 study. As a thank you, this group is welcome to attend the class for free.

And don't forget this project starts in a month and a half! Fall is coming soon.

San Juan Peregrine Update

We have been monitoring nesting peregrines in the San Juan Islands since 1976. Over the last 23 years, the breeding population has grown from 1 pair in 1980 to 20 pairs in 2002.

This year, pairs occupied 18 of the 20 known sites. Among these pairs, 10 produced young (50%), one of the lower years for productivity that we have seen. The adults produced at least 23 eyasses, for a healthy 2.3 young per active pair.

Among the 10 failed sites, two were missing pairs, 4 failed at the incubation/brooding stage, two others failed for unknown reasons, and at the last two eyries the young were eaten by an unknown predator. At one of these sites, the adult female was also eaten, something we have seen only once before in the San Juans. We found her tail feathers atop the cliff and suspect that the predator was a ground mammal, e.g. raccoon, coyote, fox, mink, or possibly even an otter.

We saw banded adult females at two of the sites. One bird was a 2001 nestling banded at a San Juan nest site 15 miles away.

Special thanks to Ed Deal, Martin Muller, Marty Daniels and especially David and Ginger Ridgway for all their help this year.

City Peregrine Update

Peregrines first began breeding in the cities of western Washington ten years ago (1994). Stewart and Virginia at the Washington Mutual Tower were the first pair. Since then, falcons have continued to move into Seattle (4 pairs), Tacoma (1 pair), Bremerton (1 pair) and Everett (1 pair).

At the Washington Mutual Tower, Stewart and Bell failed to nest in 2003. However, Ruth Taylor suspects that a pair that laid eggs but failed on the 1 Union Building several blocks from WAMU may have been Bell with a different male (he's banded, Stewart isn't).

This summer, peregrines continued their expansion into the urban environments and new pairs were found attempting to breed on a crane in Olympia (Steve Herman), the East Channel freeway bridge between Mercer Island and Bellevue (Patricia Thompson) and now on the Grain Terminal (Ruth Taylor) in Seattle.

Peregrines seem to find bridges particularly attractive and are now nesting on at least 10 structures under the jurisdiction of the Washington State Department of Transportation. DOT personnel, particularly Seattle-based Mike McDonald and Tacoma-based Kip Wylie, have been instrumental in working with us to get these birds banded. We would like to extend our gratitude to the DOT for generously assisting with the nesting of these birds. They have shown a genuine concern for the welfare of Washington wildlife and should be commended for their efforts.

"Long-billed Red-tails"

Over the past several years, we have been noticing an increasing number of local wild Red-tailed Hawks that exhibit distinctive overgrown beaks. So far, we have seen this feature on birds from the Samish Flats (3), Bow Hill (1), Fir Island (1), Anacortes (1) and south Whidbey Island (1). Cindy Willis and Dennis Ryan report the bird on Whidbey has a beak that is so overgrown that it has "crossed".

The cause of this condition remains unknown. We do know that the beak material appears to be "harder" and "flakier" than normal. As the beak continues to grow, it can prevent the bird from eating and will eventually cause death from starvation. At least three additional birds have been brought into the Sarvey Wildlife Center in such emaciated condition (fide Kay Baxter).

We have also seen the "long-beaked syndrome" in a wintering adult male Rough-legged Hawk, confirming that it can occur in other species of raptors and suggesting that the condition originates here on their wintering grounds.

To our knowledge, this condition had never been seen in western Washington prior to about 5 years ago. Dr. Eric Stauber, chief raptor veterinarian at the WSU Raptor Clinic had never seen it until this year when we sent him a bird with such a beak. Dr. Pat Redig, the world's leading raptor vet with the Minnesota Raptor Center, is also unfamiliar with it.

Therefore, we would like to ask FRG members to keep an eye out for such Red-tails and to report the date and location of such birds to Bud Anderson. We are trying to determine the geographic extent of the condition at this time and you can help.

It is important to remember that few of us actually look closely at Red-tails anymore. However, if you take a minute to examine their head profiles with a spotting scope, an overgrown beak will become very obvious to you. The tip of the beak will extend down much farther than normal.

Canary Island Barbarys

Canary Island Barbary Falcon eyasses.
Photo by: Jesus Garcia Ubierna, 2003.

There are approximately 38 species of falcons in the world. Most are kestrels (13). Among the rarer, larger species, there are desert falcons (e.g. Prairie Falcons, Lanners, Sakers and Gyrs) and the peregrine group (e.g. Orange-breasted Falcons, Peregrines).

Within the peregrine group, there are two "species" of controversial status, the Barbary Falcon of North Africa and the Red-naped Shaheen that extends from Iran into China.

The taxonomic status of both remains unclear and has been debated for well over a century. Their scientific name is Falco pelegrinoides, which means "peregrine-like", reflecting this confusion.

The Barbary form is known to occur in the Canary Islands off Morocco. A very similar form (Falco peregrinus madens) occurs to the south in the Cape Verde Islands off Africa but is considered to be a subspecies of peregrine. We have collected DNA samples from the Cape Verde falcons and wanted to compare them with the known Barbary Falcons from the Canarys.

In April, a team consisting of Kathy Gunther, Zach Smith and Bud Anderson traveled to Spanish Gran Canaria and met the falcon authority in the islands, Dr. Jesus Garcia Ubierna, a most gracious host. We worked together for several weeks visiting three islands (Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote) and collected DNA samples from three falcons. They proved to be very difficult to capture.

We saw many nesting Barbarys in their native habitats and came away with the impression of a trimmed down, super-fast hyper-peregrine. In our opinion, they are very different than peregrines in many aspects but, of course, similar in many others. We hope that the DNA samples we collected will assist in clarifying the relationship between the two forms. They are currently being analyzed by the USFWS in Alaska.

Canary Island Barbary Falcon
photo by : Jesus Ubierna Garcia, 2003

Recent Peregrine Band Returns

As many of you know, we apply special black, numbered leg bands (VID bands) to many of our local eyass (nestling) peregrines. Because of the high number of skilled birders and raptor people in our area, we receive a lot of sightings of these banded birds. Our extraordinarily high rate of returns/sightings hovers around 24%. In other words, we have sightings from 1 of every four birds we band. Great stuff!

Here are our most recent results. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

1. Mortality among banded nestlings begins almost immediately. This year, we were banding chicks at a San Juan eyrie and found another VID band (69B) on the nest ledge. It was from a nestling we had banded two years earlier on 3 June. This bird never made it off the ledge. Whether it was killed by a predator or died naturally is unknown.

2. It has long been recognized that peregrines raised on bridges seem to have a particularly high rate of mortality. The young often fledge into the water below the bridges and drown on their maiden flights. This season, two of the Tacoma nestlings were found in the water below the 11^th Street bridge. Roger Orness reports that one was successfully retrieved and placed back on the bridge by Kip Wylie of the DOT. The other was found dead in the water.

3. Ed Deal and Mark Prostor banded an adult female peregrine (67B) as a nestling in the SJIs on 3 June 2001. This is the famous "upside down band" bird. Canadian peregrine biologist Don Doyle saw her the following year at Clover Point, B.C.near Victoria on 23 April and then Jack Bettesworth observed her on Whidbey Island on 26 May. This summer, we found her breeding at another San Juan nest site, approximately 15 miles from her natal origin. She successfully raised two young.

4. Another female peregrine (29D) banded as a nestling by Kathy Gunther and Bud Anderson in the San Juans on 2 June 2002 (same nest as #3) was seen in Blaine on 28 September 2002 and again in Bellingham on 29 April 2003.

5. An immature male peregrine (64B) banded as a nestling in the San Juans on 25 May 2002 was trapped by Bud Anderson on a field trip on Fir Island on 1 March 2003, 28 miles from its natal site.

6. An adult female peregrine (P3) banded as a nestling by Wendy Gibble in the San Juans on 4 June 1997 was found breeding at another San Juan site on 8 July 1999. She has not been found breeding since then but was reported eating a Band-tailed Pigeon at Lake Whatcom near Bellingham on 7 June 2003.

7. Don Doyle trapped another adult female San Juan peregrine (N2) on 13 June 2003 at a nest site near Duncan, B.C. Wendy Gibble also banded this bird as a nestling on 12 June 1999. Roger Orness and Jack Bettesworth have seen this falcon over several winters in the Kent Valley (24 January 2000, 4 November 2001 and 18 April 2002). This seems to be her wintering area. Don has placed a satellite transmitter on N2 and will be updating us on her whereabouts.

N2, San Juan Island peregrine.

N2, San Juan Island peregrine
w/ transmitter attached.

More on Merlins

It is always enjoyable to report on nesting Merlins as we know so little about them in Washington. This year, Jim Fackler saw at least three pairs nesting in Mt. Vernon, all within a relatively small area. Typical of urban Merlins, they were found nesting in neighborhoods right in town and surrounded by people. They are always an event for the local residents as the adults and young are so noisy and entertaining.

As more Merlins are produced in cities, (adults usually have 5 young) you can expect to see a rapid expansion into other towns. Several more pairs have been reported in other western Washington communities this year but we were unable to confirm these reports. So keep looking for them in your neighborhood. And let us know when you see them….

The Satellite Red-tail

Last fall at Entiat Ridge, Susie Hindman caught an adult female Red-tailed Hawk, which is a rarely captured bird in fall migration in Washington. We applied a satellite transmitter and released the bird. Instead of heading south (as we told her to), the hawk veered back north to Glacier Peak and hung out awhile before dropping west into the Snohomish River Valley! This was completely unexpected, to say the least, but fascinating data. She is still there as I write this newsletter. Apparently she was just on a little fall tour and went for one of our "snacks" at the ridge. We did not know that our local west side Red-tails did this type of "touring" but apparently they do.

Annual Dues

We enjoy sharing the results of our work with fellow raptor enthusiasts and we hope that you enjoy hearing about them. Your annual support of the FRG allows us to continue these projects and to learn more about these remarkable "sky-sharks". Your annual membership dues ($25) help the group to meet its research and educational goals (Please send your membership dues to:

Falcon Research Group (FRG)
BOX 248
Bow, Wa. 98232

In addition, if you have a special interest in a particular project, we welcome your donations to help underwrite the costs of our special projects. These include the San Juan Peregrine Project, the Entiat Ridge Experimental Hawk Banding Station, Monitoring Urban Peregrines and special initiatives such as the Global Peregrine DNA Survey.

We welcome your interest, your involvement and thank you for your support.

2003 Winter Bulletin

noreply@blogger.com (PanamPEFA) — Wed, 01 Jan 2003 19:16:00 +0000

ENTIAT RIDGE FALL BANDING RESULTS

Our fall hawk-banding project at Entiat Ridge (near Leavenworth) was a great success last fall. Our team of 33 stalwart volunteers, under the able direction of Mark Gleason, managed to capture and band 309 raptors, a new FRG record in the Cascades. This was a 42% increase over the 2001 total of 217 birds. The study ran from 1 September through 20 October (50 days).

We captured 10 species of hawks and falcons, including our first ever Peregrine, Prairie and Rough-leg at Entiat. We also set a new FRG one-day record of 22 hawks caught in a single day (1 October).

Here are the totals.

Sharp-shinned Hawks…………….. 194

Cooper's Hawks…………………….. 38

Northern Goshawks…………………. 6

American Kestrels…………………. 20

Merlins………………………………. 10

Prairie Falcons……………………….. 3

Peregrine Falcon……………………... 1

Red-tailed Hawks…………………... 16

Rough-legged Hawk…………………. 1

Northern Harrier…………………….. 1

Our banding station is located at 5,000' on land owned by the Longview Fibre Company. I'd like to acknowledge that they are kindly allowing us to conduct our research on their property. We really appreciate it, as the site is excellent for banding.

Our team of banders gained a lot of experience this year. They are continuing to sharpen their skills at identifying, capturing, and handling migrant hawks.

Thank you to Rik Adams, Beau Anderson, Gretchen Albrecht, Ann Fleck, Sara and Geoff Clark, Ray Cruz, Ed Deal, John Deliduka, Dean Drugge, Mike and Vicki Elledge, Fiona and Mark Gleason, Vivian Gross, Kathy Gunther, Susie Hindman, Sue Hoyer, Mitsuhiro Kawase, Dalene Keith, Pat Little, Marti Louther, Emma Lux, Don McCall, Martin "Prairie" Muller, Christy Mann, Roger Orness, Mary Pearson, Jim Shiflett, Ruth Taylor, Dolly Turner, Shirley Vanderveen and Dennis Weeks. If I missed anyone, please let me know!

All of us want to extend a special thank you to Mike Elledge for the storage shed he built for the project. Thanks Mike!

SEATTLE-TACOMA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT PROJECT

We are continuing to work with the Port of Seattle at Sea-Tac Airport. The FRG is developing a raptor management program for the Port. Our goal is relatively simple. We want to minimize aircraft/bird strikes. As a result, there will be an increase in human safety, a reduction in potential aircraft damage and improved survival of the local raptors.

Last year (2002), we captured and relocated 27 more raptors, including 5 Cooper's Hawks, 17 Red-tailed Hawks, 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk and 4 American Kestrels. Our total now is 46 birds banded. We relocated 3 nestling Red-tails from a nest at the airport to another active nest in Skagit County where they fledged successfully.

This year, we will be expanding our efforts to include owls, as Barn Owls are (unexpectedly to me) the number one raptor species struck at the airport.

I'd like to thank Airport Biologist, Steve Osmek, for his continuing support and progressive views regarding raptor management.

A PORTLAND RED-TAIL

When you work with raptors, the most interesting things happen. Here is an example. Carole Hallet is a raptor biologist working at the Portland, Oregon, airport doing essentially the same thing we are doing at Sea-Tac. She captures and relocates hawks away from the airfield.

This fall (30 November), two of our banders, Pat Little and Ann Fleck, were observing an adult Red-tailed Hawk at their new condo in Seattle. They had earlier noticed the bird eating a rat on Dearborn Avenue, nearly in the heart of downtown Seattle. As they watched, they noticed that the bird was banded with a special orange color band! Pat called the USGS Bird Banding Lab in Laurel, Maryland, and discovered that it was one of Caroles' hawks from Portland. She had banded and relocated the bird on 9 April 2002.

OSPREY BAND RETURN

Ed Schulz and I have now banded 85 Osprey nestlings at Everett Harbor over the last two summers, 47 in 2001 and 38 in 2002. We have received recoveries from 4 of these birds, all within a few weeks of banding and all a short distance from Everett.

We just received a fifth report, and our first long-distance return of a nestling banded on 19 July 2001 at nest "W" in Everett. This bird was recovered injured (broken scapula) at or near Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico on 10 December. It was taken to a veterinarian but did not survive. They suspect a thrown object, such as a rock, caused the injury.

This location is about 800 miles south of Tijuana, so the bird had flown over 2,000 miles south of its natal site. It was a year and a half old.

WINTER HAWKWATCHING CLASSES

We will be holding the traditional hawk class in four cities this winter, including the Eastside in Kirkland for the first time in years. All classes begin at 7 pm.

Location Dates Cost

1.Whatcom Museum, Bellingham Tues., 14 Jan.-11 Feb. $135.00

2. Padilla Bay Center, Mt. Vernon Wed., 16 Jan.-13 Feb. $135.00

3. Center Urban Hort., Seattle Fri., 14 Feb.-14 Mar. $135.00

4. Kirkland, location TBA Tues., 18 Feb.-18 Mar. $135.00

Please pass this information on to your birder/hawk friends who might be interested. It helps support the FRG. To register, please send your check to the FRG at above address.

14TH (!) ANNUAL SKAGIT FLATS WINTER HAWK COUNT

Please join us for the annual FRG hawk count. This year, it will be held on Saturday, 15 February. Mark your calendars. This is a really fun way to see what birds are on the Flats this winter, to meet old friends, and make new ones. It is a tradition among FRG members. We hope you can all return this winter.

Bob Merrick will be coordinating the count, once again with great aplomb. Please contact him at tinekasfam@aol.com or call (360) 678-3161 on Whidbey Island.

JACK'S LATEST HARRIER RETURN

Our friend and colleague, Jack Bettesworth, has just shared a remarkable band return with us and I'd like to pass it on to all of you with his permission.

Jack and several volunteers (Bob Merrick, Marty Daniels, Pat Cozine and Gretchen Albrecht) have been doing the most extensive study of Northern Harriers ever performed in Washington.

One of their nestling harriers, banded on Whidbey on 3 July 2000 was found injured in or near Petaluma, CA on 12 December 2002. This is his first return from California and longest known distance traveled (1000 km+) by any of his birds.

SATELLITE TRACKING A FALL MIGRANT RED-TAIL

Two FRG members (who wish to remain anonymous) have kindly donated funding for a satellite transmitter. They wanted to know where our fall migrant hawks are going.

We decided that the ideal bird for this work would be a Red-tailed Hawk because of its size and hardiness. Furthermore, we decided to attach it to an adult bird as immatures have a much higher mortality rate. We also decided to wait until later in the season to catch the bird and avoid it being a resident local.

Well, in two years of trapping 526 hawks at Entiat Ridge, we have caught exactly one adult Red-tailed Hawk! Sue Hindman lured it in on 14 October. We fitted the backpack to this hawk and released it the next morning. Everyone expected it to fly to Mexico.

However, this Red-tail had plans of its own. It actually flew northwest instead of south. It flew to Glacier Peak and spent some time there before crossing WEST over the Cascade Mountains and settling into a winter range just south of Snohomish. It has been there ever since.

We hypothesize that this is a northern breeding bird that comes to Washington each winter. We have learned over the years, that there are many such Red-tails "wintering" in northern Puget Sound, probably more than we suspect. For example, half of the six adult Red-tails that we have trapped at Sea-Tac leave the area in summer, presumably to go north.

If this theory is correct, the satellite hawk will move north in spring. Time will tell.

ANNUAL DUES

If you like what we do, you can help support our work by sending in your annual 2003 dues ($25.00) to the FRG, Box 248, Bow, WA 98232. It all helps. And thank you.

~~ Thank you for your support! ~~

2002 Fall Bulletin

noreply@blogger.com (PanamPEFA) — Thu, 01 Aug 2002 17:29:00 +0000

ENTIAT RIDGE FALL BANDING PROJECT

We will be operating a hawk banding station in the mountains above Leavenworth once again during September and October of 2002. This is the second year of this study at Entiat Ridge. We would like to invite all former participants to join us for another hawk season. Please contact our own wonderful Vivian Gross to arrange your schedules at (425) 823-6582 or e-mail at vlgross@aol.com . If you are new to the project, contact the project leader, Mark Gleason, at (206) 634-0649 in Seattle.

Now every year at this time, I have the sad duty to inform you that the Vine Maples are already turning colors. I know it is difficult to accept but fall is just around the corner. Hawk movements will start in about 3 weeks from now and be heavily underway in just over a month. Time to start thinking about time in the blind.

FALL MIGRATION HAWK BANDING CLASS

To help prepare for the fall migration project, we will be conducting our annual fall hawk banding classes in both Seattle and Mt. Vernon beginning in August. The purpose of this class is to train volunteers to participate in the Entiat Ridge Hawk Migration Project. The four-session class will teach you the basics of fall hawk migration, how to identify species of raptors that occur at the Entiat site and how to safely capture, handle, and band wild migrant hawks as part of the FRG banding team.

Class will be held in Seattle on Tuesday nights at the Center for Urban Horticulture from 13 August through 3 September 7-9 pm and at the Padilla Bay Center near Mt. Vernon on Wednesday nights 14 August through 4 September 7-9 pm.

Topics will include daily set-up and takedown duties; types of hawk traps; trap operation; luring techniques; safe-handling procedures (for you and the bird); aging and sexing criteria; banding methods. Please note that all hawk-banding stations utilize live pigeons and starlings as lure birds to attract raptors. You may want to make certain that this practice is OK with you prior to signing up for the class.

To register, please send a check to the FRG at the address listed above. Cost of the class is $100.00 per person. If you have questions please contact Bud.

CITY MERLINS NESTING AGAIN IN WESTERN WASHINGTON

As many of you know, Merlins are an uncommon breeding species in Washington. It has only been in the last several years, primarily due to the work of Tom Gleason, that we are now aware of over a dozen pairs breeding in the western half of our state.

This year, in a seemingly increasing trend, two pairs bred in cities; Bellingham and Mt. Vernon. Another pair is suspected to be breeding somewhere in Everett.

This is the third year that a pair of Merlins is known to have produced young in Bellingham. We do not know if they are the same birds since neither adult is banded. This year, they selected a Spruce tree in a residential neighborhood. They nested in an old crow's nest 62' from the ground. The pair became quite a sensation in the area and many neighbors got involved in the progress of the family group, listening to food transfers, food-begging, nest defense and monitoring the fledging of the young around mid-July.

On 21 June, I climbed the tree with permission from the landowner. With the able help of Jim Fackler, we banded 5 three-week-old eyasses; 3 females and 2 males. Remarkably enough, this is the first record of nestling Merlins being banded in Washington. These birds were feeding primarily on House Sparrows.

A second pair of Merlins succeeded in raising 4 young in a city park in Mt. Vernon for the first time. Last year, the female at this site was killed and eaten by an unknown predator (Cooper's Hawk?) prior to hatching young so the pair failed.

Many of us think that Merlins could easily be breeding in Seattle but are being overlooked. Be aware, as we expect the trend in city nesting Merlins to increase.

SAN JUAN PEREGRINES

We are continuing to monitor the expanding breeding population in the San Juan Islands. This was the 10^th year of our research effort. The number has increased to 20 pairs, far beyond what anyone expected for local peregrines.

This year, we had a new and unexpected occurrence. Eight of the 20 pairs failed, a rate (40%) that we have never seen before. We suspect that it was caused primarily by poor weather in April and May, although we also saw evidence of predation. At one site, for example, I found a half-eaten eyass peregrine just below a failed ledge. This was the first time I have seen this in many years of banding chicks all over the world. The only ground predator on this island is the Raccoon.

Nevertheless, we succeeded in banding 28 young peregrines with color bands (black with silver letters). To date, over the 8 years of San Juan banding, we have tagged 174 young peregrines (21.75 per year) in the islands.

CITY PEREGRINES

Peregrines are now occupying 5 cities in western Washington, Seattle (3 pairs), Everett (1 pair), Bremerton (1 pair), Bellevue (1 pair) and Tacoma (1 pair).

The Washington Mutual pair in Seattle fledged 4 young in 2002. They have now produced 22 young in 8 years.

The famous "D-1", a bird we banded as a nestling in the San Juans on 13 June 1997, and who subsequently tried to breed on the West Seattle Freeway Bridge, was found injured at Safeco Field on 19 April 2002. Attempts by the Woodland Park Zoo to rehabilitate her were unsuccessful and she remains in captivity.

All of the other city pairs failed this year except a new pair in Everett, which produced a single young bird. This eyrie was located on a bridge counterweight, similar to the nest in Tacoma. The scrape was situated on a thick bed of rodent bones from decomposed Barn Owl pellets. It was not an ideal substrate for falcon eggs.

We would like to thank Mike McDonald, Washington State DOT biologist for arranging permission and assistance to work the bridge falcons this year.

EVERETT OSPREY STUDY

Several years ago, Ed Schulz discovered a unique population of 26 pairs of Ospreys nesting in the Everett Harbor area. The nests are located on pilings in a relatively small area and are accessible by boat.

Last year, we began to band the young in an attempt to discover where they winter and to learn if the young return to Everett to breed as adults. In 2001, we banded 48 young. Four were recovered within the first month in Snohomish County. No other returns have been reported since then.

During this work, we encountered a nestling with severe birth defects. It was missing all of its toes on one foot, had malformed legs and a withered wing. Apparently this has never been seen before in Ospreys and so it drew some attention.

As a result, this year we are working with a leading Osprey/toxicology expert, Dr. Chuck Henny, of the USGS. Chuck has arranged to analyze contaminant loads in the Ospreys, locally nesting Double-crested Cormorants and the main fish prey species in the harbor, Starry Flounders. We hope that this study will clarify the causes of the birth deformity in the Osprey chick. It must also be emphasized that the deformity may have been a natural occurrence. No other deformed birds have been found so far this year.

Thus far, we have banded 35 more young with a few more nest sites remaining to visit.

SEATTLE TACOMA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT RAPTOR PROJECT

The FRG continues to work with Steve Osmek, biologist for the Port of Seattle, to capture and re-locate raptors inhabiting the runway areas of Sea-Tac Airport. The purpose of this work is to reduce the number of bird strikes impacting aircraft.

We routinely visit the airport and document the number and type of hawks that inhabit the area. We have found that the most common species is the Red-tailed Hawk and at least 5 pairs nest around the perimeter of the field.

Our strategy is to let the resident adult breeders remain on their territories. These birds have spent years around jet activity and are experienced at avoiding aircraft. If we remove them, other less experienced hawks will fill the vacuum.

Therefore, we have captured, radio-tagged and/or wing-tagged 8 of the adults.

In contrast, when we encounter the less experienced immature hawks, we capture and re-locate them to Skagit or Whatcom Counties. This is beneficial for both the hawks and aircraft.

Since we began this project in 2001, we have moved or radio-tagged 31 birds of prey including Red-tails, Cooper's Hawks and American Kestrels. A website describing this project is available at www.portseattle.org/portandyou/community/bird.htm .

BAND RETURNS

Here are more of our ever-fascinating band returns, all involving peregrines.

A peregrine banded as a nestling in the San Juan Islands on 10 June 1997 was found injured at Duncan, B.C. on 9 July 2002.

Roger Orness observed another peregrine banded as a nestling in the San Juan Islands on 12 June 1999 at the Kent Ponds on 18 April 2002.

Another San Juan peregrine banded on 29 May 2000 was recovered injured at Nanaimo, B.C. on 15 March 2002.

A fourth San Juan Island nestling, banded on 3 June 2001, was observed at Clover Point (near Victoria B.C.) on 23 April 2002 and later by Jack Bettesworth and Bob Merrick on Whidbey Island on 26 May 2002.

A new immature female peregrine taking up residence as a potential breeder in downtown Bellevue was banded last year in Portland, Oregon by J. Pagel.

Both adults at the I-5 Ship Canal Bridge eyrie are banded. The new adult female peregrine was banded at a site on the Columbia River near Portland in 2000. Her mate, a first year male, is from the 2001 Washington Mutual brood.

~~ Thank you for your support! ~~

2002 Winter Bulletin

noreply@blogger.com (PanamPEFA) — Tue, 01 Jan 2002 19:17:00 +0000

SOUTHERN PEREGRINE EXPEDITION

FRG members Kathy Gunther, Wendy Gibble, Mark Prostor and Bud Anderson traveled to southern Chile and the Falkland Islands in November and December. This expedition was part of our ongoing Global Peregrine DNA Survey. The main goals of the trip were to collect blood samples for DNA analysis, gather breeding/distribution data on the rare white morph peregrine in Patagonia and try our best for some samples in the Falklands.

We began by surveying the Straits of Magellan in Chile. Despite snow, rain and heavy winds, we were able to locate and visit 6 peregrine eyries, both coastal and inland. Remarkably, most of these birds were the incredibly beautiful white morph falcons. We succeeded in collecting 5 samples from adults representing this population. Our Chilean friend, Christian Gonzalez, a falcon videographer, joined us on this leg of the trip.

We traveled next to the Falkland Islands for an additional week. Little is known about these particular island peregrines and so we knew that ANY data we could gather would be of value. With the wonderful help of the local people, particularly our guide, Tim Stenning, we were able to locate 5 eyries on East Falkland Island. We gained another 5 samples from these nestlings. As luck would have it, the blood samples represent the geographic extremes of the island. We were also able to document several new prey species for Falkland peregrines, including Sooty Shearwaters.

Wendy and Kathy stayed an additional two weeks in the Falklands at New Island while Mark and Bud headed home, stopping in Santiago for a day to collect 5 more samples from central Chilean peregrines.

The current goal of the Global Peregrine DNA Project is to sample all of the sub-populations of peregrines in the Western Hemisphere. Since most of North America has already been completed, we are now focusing our efforts on Latin America. This trip completed the sampling plan for southern South America. Our next survey will be directed at breeding populations in Peru, Ecuador, northern Chile and Baja California.

SOUTHERN PEREGRINE SLIDESHOW

We always like to share the results of our field research with FRG members, friends and peregrine fans. It is our way of saying thank you for your continuing support. Therefore, we will be presenting a slideshow in both Mt.Vernon (Thursday 17 January, 7 pm, Padilla Bay Center) and Seattle ( Friday 18 January, 7 pm, Center for Urban Horticulture) featuring pictures of peregrines and habitat from both Patagonia and the Falklands Islands. You are cordially invited to attend. Friends are welcome too.

ADVANCED RAPTOR IDENTIFICATION CLASS TAUGHT BY BILL CLARK

Bill Clark, author of A Field Guide to Hawks, will once again present a two-day seminar on advanced hawk identification at the Padilla Bay Interpretive Center near Mt. Vernon on 9-10 February 2002. There will be a lecture with slides each morning (9am-1pm) followed by field trips on the Skagit Flats in the afternoons. Bill is the world's leading expert on raptor field identification. Over the last 20 years, he has been instrumental in pushing raptor ID to its current advanced state. This will be a rare opportunity to learn how to use your new field guides! Please note that the class is limited to intermediate to advanced hawkwatchers only.

Cost of the seminar is $100.00. To register, please contact the FRG at (360) 757-1911 or e-mail bud@frg.org.

FINAL RESULTS FROM THE ENTIAT RIDGE FALL HAWK MIGRATION

Last fall (1 September-13 October), Mark Gleason and Bud Anderson initiated a new hawk migration study at Entiat Ridge above Leavenworth. We selected this site because it was closer to Seattle and far easier to access than Chelan Ridge, our previous banding site. The Longview Fibre Company kindly gave us permission to conduct the study on their land.

Results from the first year were encouraging. We banded a total of 217 raptors, including 137 Sharp-shinned Hawks (63%), 38 Cooper's Hawks (17%), 13 Red-tailed Hawks (6%), 12 Merlins, 10 American Kestrels, 5 Northern Harriers and 2 Northern Goshawks.

Based on these results, we have decided to continue banding at this site in 2002. We will also be expanding to several other nearby "test sites" for comparison. We hope to find another good location and eventually establish a second banding station.

The Entiat station was set up by a very dedicated group of FRG members who donated several weekends of their labor in August. Special thanks go to Martin Muller, Ed Deal, Mark Gleason, Dean Drugge and Geoff Clark. As a result of this help, we had an excellent and well-built blind with a first-ever cement slab floor, one-way glass windows, solar powered solenoid bow-net releases and plenty of working space. We expect a visit from Martha Stewart next year.

Perhaps most importantly, we were able to provide a good opportunity for our volunteers to learn how to safely capture and band migrant hawks. With this more productive site, there were more birds to work with and people got to practice their skills with greater frequency. And, of course, everyone learned that fall migration is the perfect place to learn your accipiters.

We will be holding another fall migration hawk class in August. If you are interested in joining the fall banding team, please stay tuned.

ANNUAL SKAGIT FLATS WINTER HAWK CENSUS

Our annual Hawk Count will be held on Saturday, 16 February, 2002. Hawk counters, please mark this date in your calendars. As usual, the erudite Bob Merrick will coordinate the count. To participate, please contact Bob via e-mail at tinekasfam@aol.com or call him at (360) 678-3161.

Pat Little tells me that ALL of our Skagit winter census data are now on the Nature Conservancy database (thank you TNC!) and we hope to have copies available soon for everyone. If you have not seen the graphic display, it is absolutely beautiful. I will see if I can have one at the post-count meeting at Padilla.

WINTER HAWKWATCHING CLASSES

Several of you have been asking about the upcoming hawkwatching classes. I will be teaching four this winter, the usual ones in Seattle, Mt. Vernon and Bellingham and a new one in Kirkland for the eastside hawkwatchers. Here are the dates.

Location Dates Cost

1. Padilla Bay Center, Mt. Vernon Wed., 9 January-13 February $135.00

2. Whatcom Museum, Bellingham Tues., 15 January-12 February $135.00

3. Center for Urb. Hort., Seattle Fri., 8 February-8 March $135.00

4. Kirkland (February dates and location to be announced-call for info) $135.00

To reserve your space for a class, please send a check for $135.00 to the FRG, Box 248, Bow, WA, 98232. For questions, call Bud at (360) 757-1911 or e-mail at bud@frg.org.

RECENT BAND RETURNS

One of the most pleasing elements of hawk banding occurs when we receive a band return. It is always fun and informative to mine these bits of information for an understanding of the movements of a particular bird. It gives us a snapshot of its life. The gradual accumulation of returns over the years lets us gain a clearer understanding of what these hawks do, where they go, how long they live and what happens to them.

We'd like to share our most recent returns with all of you and hope you enjoy them as much as we do. As you can see, quite a few came in so far this year.

Peregrine Falcons

A huge female nestling banded by Marty Daniels on 2 June 2001 in the San Juan Islands was found dead less than two miles from the nest on 15 August. This one did not get far. A friend of Matt Klope's found the falcons leg with a band on a beach!
Another San Juan female banded on 2 June 2001 by Bud Anderson was caught and released on the Long Beach Peninsula on 22 September 2001 by Dan Varland. Several of the San Juan birds are now showing up along the outer coast in fall.
Yet another San Juan nestling banded on 9 June 2001 by David Hancock was found at Brooks, Oregon, near Salem, on 22 September 2001. This one was apparently headed down the interior Willamette Valley route.
One of the 4 Tacoma eyasses banded on 30 May 2001 was found dead under a power pole at Westport, WA, sometime in July or August 2001. The coast once again seems to attract or concentrate our local peregrines.
Dan Logen observed one of the Seattle eyasses that we banded on 24 May 2000. She was perched on the big smokestack at Stanwood on 25 November 2001. Nice to know this adult bird made it and is hanging around the area.
Roger Orness re-sighted an adult banded as an eyass in the San Juans on 30 May 1999. He first found it 2 years ago wintering near Emerald Downs (Auburn), on 29 December 1999. He saw it again this fall on 16 October.
Roger re-sighted yet another adult bird that was banded as an eyass in the San Juans on 12 June 1999. He first saw this bird at the Kent Ponds on 24 January 2000 and again this winter on 4 November 2001. Both of these sightings demonstrate that peregrines usually winter in the same places each year. It also shows what a great observer Roger is. Thanks Roger.
Bird number three for Roger (!) was an immature bird banded this summer as a nestling on 25 May, 2001, again in the San Juans, and observed at the "magnetic" Kent Ponds on 22 July 2001 only about a month after fledging from its nest. We were all surprised it could go so far in such a short time after fledging.
Another San Juan eyass banded on 5 June 2000 by Bud Anderson was caught and released at the Long Beach Peninsula by Tracy Fleming on 16 November 2001. The late date suggests that this falcon is wintering there. Yet another coastal falcon.

Ospreys

Of the 45 Osprey nestlings Ed Schulz and Bud Anderson banded last summer in Everett Harbor, four have been reported already. All of them were local returns, three from the Marysville area and another from Port Gardiner Bay. All were recovered in August and September. These returns illustrate the mortality that begins among raptors soon after fledging, almost 10% of the Everett banded birds thus far.

FREE OPTICS SEMINAR AT ANACORTES TELESCOPE

Anacortes Telescope is one of our favorite stores. It is a local business located in Skagit County at the Swinomish Channel on Hwy 20. They specialize in optical gear. It is great to be able to go there and check out new items when they come in. The owners, Herb and Paula York, have become good friends over the years and we really enjoy doing whatever we can to support them.

On Sunday, 3 February, they will be sponsoring a free optics presentation by Clay Taylor, the national representative for Swarovski products. Clay is a fascinating guy and has banded hawks on the East Coast for many years. The store will open at 10 am Sunday for two hours to the public. Around noon, we will travel over to the West 90 on the Samish Flats for two hours to demonstrate a variety of scopes and binoculars in the field. After this, we will return to the store. Our banding crew will be trapping that day and I am asking that they bring some birds by the West 90 for you to see.

I wanted to recommend this seminar to anyone interested in optics or hawks. Support these guys whenever you can.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR SEATTLE-TACOMA AIRPORT PROJECT

We are currently working with Sea-Tac biologist, Steve Osmek, studying 5 pairs of adult Red-tailed Hawks that nest around the perimeter of the airport. At present, we have radio transmitters on 5 individual hawks with four more to go. We will also be tagging an adult peregrine that inhabits the area.

We are looking for 2-3 FRG volunteers that would like to join this study. Duties would include monitoring the hawks for one day a week during the winter. You will be introduced to the Sea-Tac area, be trained in radio-telemetry techniques and help document hawk activity around the field. If you are interested in this project, please call Bud at (360) 757-1911.

A PERSONAL NOTE

Last winter, while teaching one of my hawk classes, a student apparently took a number of the books that I display for the rest of the class members. I did not notice this act until much later as it never occurred to me that someone would do this. I am assuming that this person, whomever it might be, is now reading this newsletter. I'd like to respectfully ask that you please return them to me (no questions asked) as I need them for my work. Some of them are irreplaceable. And more importantly, I'd like you to have a clear conscience while you engage and enjoy these birds. Thanks.

ANNUAL DUES

Thanks to all of you that are supporting the FRG by sending in your annual dues. We really appreciate it. If you have sent them in, you will have a GOLD STAR right here.

If you haven't, well, what's stopping you?

If you have enjoyed this newsletter and like what we do, go ahead and send in $25.00 to the FRG, Box 248, Bow, WA 98232. Thank you very much. And Happy New Year.

~~ Thank you for your support! ~~

2001 Fall Bulletin

noreply@blogger.com (PanamPEFA) — Fri, 21 Sep 2001 18:28:00 +0000

More News about Nesting Merlins

Merlins are the rarest nesting falcon in Washington. There are fewer than 25 breeding records for this state. So every new record is an "event" to those of us who love falcons.

Last year, a pair raised young in Bellingham and was the first known city-breeding pair for the state. We love to see that, as their young will also be likely to breed in a city. This summer (2001), two other pairs were found in cities in northwestern WA. A second pair bred in Bellingham at a different location (5 young) and yet another pair tried to nest in Mt. Vernon but failed. Some sort of avian predator killed the female at this site.

All three of these recent pairs were Black Merlins (Falco columbarius suckleyi), the dark coastal race that inhabits our region.

Airport Raptors

Steve Osmek, biologist for the Port of Seattle, has contracted the FRG to develop and implement a new raptor management plan at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (STIA) in 2001. The purpose of this project is to reduce the number of potential raptor/aircraft collisions, in conjunction with the development of the new third runway.

We are really pleased to see that Sea-Tac is doing the right thing for these hawks. I have found in working with them that they are genuinely concerned about the welfare of the raptors on their runways.

During this summer, we found that the main raptor species at STIA was the Red-tailed Hawk. We discovered 4 active nests around the perimeter of the field and suspect a fifth. The adults produced 9 young. Unfortunately, immature Red-tails in September are one of the major strike victims at some airports. Therefore, we decided to relocate the young for their safety. Two fledglings were given to falconers in June. Seven immatures (plus a Kestrel and Cooper's Hawk) were captured in August and September and safely relocated well away from the airport. Another young Red-tail was apparently struck and killed by a car on the airport approach road.

We are continuing to develop methods to re-locate vulnerable birds as the seasons progress.

Everett Osprey Study

Several years ago, FRG member Ed Schulz discovered an unknown, dense population of 26 breeding pairs of Ospreys near Everett Harbor. They are nesting on pilings and at the mouth of the Snohomish River. Ed has been keeping track of them ever since.

This year, the FRG joined forces with Ed and we expanded the study to include banding of the young. Using the FRG research boat, the Shaheen, we were able to ring 45 young at 20 successful nests from 12-27 July. As yet, no one knows where these birds winter and we hope that our bands will start to change that situation.

We found dead chicks at three nests and at a fourth, we discovered a live but badly deformed eyass. I have never seen anything like this before in my many years of banding raptors. It had a stunted wing, two extended legs and was missing one toe and all the claws on one foot. This bird was later sent to the Wildlife Health Center in Madison, WI for analysis. It may be simply a random deformity or possibly something worse. Photos can be seen on our web-site at www.frg.org. They are not pretty.

I'd like to thank Darryl Thompson and our friends at Pilchuck Audubon Society for funding this initial work.

San Juan Peregrine Project

We began monitoring the nesting peregrine population in the San Juan Islands in 1975. Since the first pair returned in 1980, this group of falcons has expanded at a remarkable pace. This summer was no exception. We located 2 new sites bringing the total to 19 nesting pairs in the islands. They fledged at least 38 young, another new record for the region. We were able to band 31 of them. We missed 7 other young at 4 of the sites.

Remarkably, Dave Batchelder and Kathy Gunther found recently fledged young on 26 August, fully 6 weeks after normal fledging and a record for the state.

We want to extend a special thank you to David and Ginger Ridgway and Anacortes Telescope for their help on the project this year.

Band Returns

Here are four more band returns illustrating what happens to our local nestling peregrines.

1. A male peregrine banded as a nestling at a site in the San Juans on 7 June 1997 was found as a breeding adult on 3 June 2001, 14 miles from its natal site.

2. Another San Juan nestling (D-1) banded on 13 June 1997 laid eggs at the West Seattle Bridge this summer. Her clutch failed to hatch. Many experienced Seattle hands suspect her mate was Stewart, although it hasn't been proven for certain as yet.

3. Darryl Thompson observed one of the Seattle nestlings (banded 24 May 2000) on 13 February 2001 near Monroe, WA.

4. A nestling female banded on 25 May 2001in the San Juans was observed by Roger Orness on 22 July at the Kent Ponds only 5 weeks after fledging.

The Seattle Peregrine Project

This year Bell and Stewart successfully raised young once again. She laid 4 eggs as usual. All four hatched but one died within 4 days. Three fledged but one died immediately from hitting a window. Ruth Taylor says the remaining two young were last observed on 3 August, the Blue Angels day.

By the way, Bell whacked Mark and I a total of 6 times while banding. She also grabbed Mark's prize hat, carried it out over the city and dropped it mercilessly. As I watched it falling gracefully, gently down through the city walls, transfixed, she flew by and whacked me on the back of my head. What a target! Really dumb on my part……

Tacoma Peregrines

The city of Tacoma was treated to another successful peregrine breeding season in 2001. The 11^th Street Bridge falcons managed to raise 4 young again, reflecting the health of this strong and aggressive city female and her mate.

This year, thanks to the expertise of Mark Prostor, we were able to place a live, wireless video feed from the nest site into both the Washington State History Museum and the Frank Russell Building. The people of Tacoma are now able to experience the breeding season events first hand. We want to thank David Lyles and the Lyles family for making this possible in honor of our friend, Jim Lyles, who passed away last year. Jim would have loved seeing the enjoyment of all the people who were able to view the nest site from the Museum lobby. The Frank Russell Company funded the video feed into their building lobby for the benefit of their employees.

I'd also like to say that this project would not be possible without the permission and kind cooperation of the Washington Department of Transportation, particularly Dennis Ulmer, Kip Wylie and the entire bridge crew. These guys have been really great to us.

One of the young birds died after being hit by a train in downtown Tacoma.

Fall Hawk Banding

After working at Chelan Ridge with the USFS and Hawkwatch International for the past two autumns, we decided to move on and see what was happening on other Cascade ridges.

This year, we selected Entiat Ridge above Leavenworth to see what might be moving along that system. The geography looked promising and we had always been curious about what might be happening there.

We placed our "deluxe" blind on the ridge in late August and have been banding with a small, skilled crew ever since. At three weeks out, we have banded 100 raptors so far, including 60 Sharpies, 20 Cooper's, 6 Reds, 6 Kestrels, 5 merlins and 2 harriers. This is about average for the Cascades in the past. We are averaging about 5 birds a day at our single blind, not bad for the first season at a new site. More about our final results later.

A Satellite Transmitter

Two of our kind members (who would like to remain anonymous) have donated the funding for a satellite transmitter this fall. We plan to put it on an adult Red-tail at Entiat this week. Of course, the precise date is dependent on when the right bird is caught.

With luck, we plan to follow this bird over the next 10 months. We hope to learn how it migrates south, what route it takes, where it winters, when it starts to return in spring, what route it takes north and ultimately, where it nests next summer.

We would like to invite you all to follow the progress of this Red-tail on our web-site, www.frg.org, as soon as she is released. It should be quite informative and fun.

October Hawk Classes at Vashon Island and Port Townsend

We will be holding our traditional class, Hawkwatching in Western Washington, at both of these locations beginning in October this year. The Vashon class will be held on 5 consecutive Wednesday nights (7-9) beginning on 10 October. The Port Townsend class will be on 5 Tuesday nights starting on 16 October at Chimacum. Please pass this information on to your friends who live in those areas. For more information, call Bud at (360) 757-1911 or e-mail bud@frg.org. Cost is $135.00.

Hawk Stuff Fledges

Rhonda Booth has just started a new business that features hawk and hawk watching products. Her "hawk stuff" ranges from field guides to jewelry to kids' puppets. We hope it will become the single best place to find a variety of raptor related products. We selected them together, so I think you will find there are some really great things there. Check out her new website at www.hawkstuff.net or call (360) 707-2203 to get on the catalog list. A portion of the proceeds will go to supporting FRG field studies.

If you know of any additional hawk products for her catalog please let her know.

Annual Dues

Annual dues for the FRG are $25.00. If you like what we are doing, please send them in and help continue our efforts. We truly appreciate your support

~~ Thank you for your support! ~~

2001 Winter Bulletin

noreply@blogger.com (PanamPEFA) — Tue, 02 Jan 2001 18:39:00 +0000

Chelan Ridge Fall Hawk Migration Results

Last fall, a group of 75+ FRG volunteers conducted a 6-week hawk migration study at Chelan Ridge in Okanogan County, Washington. This was the second year of the project. From 2 September through 14 October (42 days), we operated two banding stations (North and South Blind) on the 5,600' ridge. Our goal was to capture, band and release as many migrant birds of prey as possible. We hope to eventually learn where they go in winter, how they get there, how long they live and where they nest in the north. This project is part of an ongoing study being performed in partnership with the USFS and HawkWatch International.

Immature Golden Eagle, Chelan Ridge, Fall 2000.

This year, we banded 200 birds of prey that included 10 different species. Three of these (Golden Eagle, Rough-legged Hawk and Northern Hawk-Owl) were new to the study. Here are our results from this year

Species	North Blind	South Blind	Totals
Northern Harrier	1	2	3
Sharp-shinned Hawk	51	74	125 (63%)
Cooper's Hawk	26	20	46 (23%)
Northern Goshawk	5	5	10 (05%)
Red-tailed Hawk	1	7	8
Rough-legged Hawk	1	0	1
Golden Eagle	0	1	1
Merlin	2	2	4
Prairie Falcon	1	0	1
Northern Hawk Owl	1	0	1
Total	89	111	200

Last year (1999), we banded 220 hawks at the North Blind. This year (2000), we moved North Blind uphill a few hundred yards and caught only 89 hawks (51% fewer). We suspect that we moved it off the main flight line and, as a result, caught far fewer birds. South Blind caught 111.

Adult Goshawk, Chelan Ridge

Our First Chelan Ridge Band Return

Over the two seasons of the study at Chelan Ridge (1999-2000), we have banded a total of 420 raptors. Ninety percent have been accipiters. So far, we have received only a single return, a REALLY small rate of return (far less than 1%), but it is a start.

An immature Cooper's Hawk, banded on 16 September (0950), 2000, at the North Blind by Mark Gleason was recovered at Edwards Air Force Base in southern California on 4 October. The bird had flown south approximately 932 miles in 19 days, an average of 49 miles per day.

Skagit Flats Winter Raptor Census

The annual Skagit Flats Hawk Census will take place on Saturday, 17 February (0900-1100). Route leaders, please mark the date in your calendars. The capable Bob Merrick will be coordinating the count once again this year. To lend a hand, please give him a call at (360) 678-3161 or better yet, you now can e-mail him at tinekesfam@aol.com. Make sure that you welcome him to the digital age.

Last year, we set a new record on the Skagit Flats (1,056 raptors). Let's see if we can exceed that in 2001.

Northern Hawk-Owl

Adult Northern Hawk
Owl, Chelan Ridge, WA, October 2000

Last fall, on 13 October, I discovered a Northern Hawk Owl perched in a snag above an old clear-cut at Chelan Ridge, at around 5,000' elevation. This is one of the rarest northern owls and the first I had ever seen. Fewer than 20 have been reported in Washington. Several of our banders were able to see the bird clearly and we were all amazed by its remarkable tameness and the size of its enormous legs and feet. We took the time to capture the bird and were able to weigh, measure and photograph it. It was the first Northern Hawk Owl banded in Washington. To check out pictures of this bird, visit our web-site at www.frg.org.

Black Merlins Found Nesting In Bellingham

Black Merlin

The Black Merlin is one of the least known raptors in Washington. Fewer than 20 nests have been documented in our state over the last 100 years. Most of these have been found by Merlin expert, Tom Gleason, in the last decade.
Last summer, a birder living in residential Bellingham reported a family group (2 adults and 4 young) flying around her neighborhood, landing on rooftops, wires, trees and buildings in July. We were able to confirm that they were the Black Merlin race (Falco columbarius suckleyi), based on their distinctive plumages.
This is the first known record of Merlins nesting in a city in Washington. We hope the young will become a nucleus for other cities in the
Puget Sound Basin in the near future.

More Peregrine Band Returns

Ed Deal with his first peregrine banded on 19 November 2000, Samish Flats.

Every summer, a small but dedicated group of people spends hundreds of hours in the San Juan Islands studying Peregrine Falcons and banding their young. Early in the season, this work is often cold, wet and tedious. Later in the season, going into the cliff sites to band young can be strenuous, difficult and, at times, dangerous.

San Juan nestling peregrine, 2000

So when we get a sighting or a band return from one of these birds, it is greatly appreciated by the whole team. These people work really hard for each return. To date, we have banded 115 eyasses in the islands and have had 25 returns (sightings, recaptures and recoveries) for an astonishingly high 21.7% rate of return. Here are the 5 latest San Juan reports.

A nestling female peregrine banded on 7 June 1997 was recovered on 24 September 2000 in Vancouver, BC. Several of our birds show up in Vancouver, presumably because of the pigeon population.

Another nestling female banded on 10 June 1997 was found dead under a crane at the Port of Olympia on 9 October 2000. She had reportedly lived there for over a year.

A nestling male banded on 29 May 1999 was recovered dead under an oil well near Drumheller, Alberta, approximately 457 miles northeast of his natal site. The bird was badly decomposed so the exact date of death is unknown.

Paul De Bruyn recently provided us with two sightings of our banded birds from several years ago. A nestling female banded on 8 June 1995 was seen on Galiano Island in the Canadian Gulf Islands on 9 July 1997.

A male nestling banded on the same day at the same nest was observed as an adult on Sucia Island in the San Juans on 22 April 1998.

Mark Prostor banding nestling peregrines,
Tacoma 2000.

Seattle Peregrine Project

Bell at the Washington Mutual Tower,Seattle.

Ruth Taylor, coordinator of the Seattle Peregrine Project, always likes me to remind people that the nesting season will start again in just a couple of months. She wants you to know that you are welcome to volunteer at WAMU observing the nesting birds and changing videotapes. To participate, please contact Ruth at rutht@seanet.com. I would add that you won't be sorry. It is an incredible experience.

This will be the eighth year of the project (!). Stewart and Bell are both starting to get up there in years, so enjoy them while you can. No reports at all from the four young fledged last summer. I suppose that no news is good news.

If you would like to report a peregrine sighting in Seattle, please call Ruth on the SEATTLE PEREGRINE HOTLINE at (206) 654-4423. It's also a great place to hear about other peregrine sightings in town.

Whidbey Island Raptor Nesting Survey

Few people realize there is a National Park on Whidbey Island. Established by Congress in 1978, it is called Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve Area. Located in and around Coupeville, its purpose is to preserve the unique historic and cultural elements of the area.

In the spring of 2001, we are going to begin a long-term raptor nesting study within the Park. Working in conjunction with the National Park Service, we plan to survey all habitats within the National Reserve area over a 5-year period. The study will include a preliminary raptor nesting class for our volunteers, guest lectures by several raptor biologists and lots of field time. If you would like to be a part of this newly forming team (especially those of you living on Whidbey), please contact Bud at the FRG for more information.

Snowy Owl Incursion ?

Several Snowy Owls have made their way into western Washington again this winter. The first report occurred on 8 November when a live bird was fished out of the water in Blaine Harbor, Whatcom County. It was taken to Sarvey Wildlife Care Center where it is doing fine.

In a typical year, juvenile Snowy Owls usually arrive en mass and stay in one general area (e.g. a particular field) for the winter. This year has been unusual with several birds showing up in odd spots and then disappearing again. As we get deeper into winter, a few birds are remaining at places like Big Ditch, Dungeness and Ocean Shores, but the big push many of us expected to happen has failed to materialize so far.

If you see a Snowy in your area, please give us a call or e-mail and let us know.

Snowy Owl Lecture(s)

Denver Holt, founder of the Owl Institute in Montana, will present 2 lectures (Seattle and Mt. Vernon) describing his work with Snowy Owls in Alaska over the last 11 years. The talks are sponsored by the FRG and will be held on Wednesday night, 28 February at the Padilla Bay Center and Thursday night, 1 March, at the Center for Urban Horticulture in Seattle. Both presentations will begin at 7:30 pm. To cover his expenses, we are requesting a $3.00 donation at the door. This is going to be a fun and informative talk, so mark it on your calendars.

Hawkwatching in Western Washington Classes

Immature Rough-legged Hawk.

We will hold the annual winter hawk classes in four cities this year, Bellingham, Mt. Vernon, Seattle and for the first time, Everett. Please pass the dates and locations along to your friends (or enemies) depending on how you feel about the class.

City Location	Dates / Time	Cost
Mt. Vernon Padilla Bay Center	11 Jan.-8 Feb. 7 pm Thursday	$125.00
Bellingham Whatcom Museum	16 Jan.-13 Feb. 7 pm Tuesday	$125.00
Everett TBA	17 Jan.-14 Feb. 7 pm Wednesday	$125.00
Seattle Urban Horticulture	9 Feb.-9 March 7 pm Fridays	$125.00

To reserve your space in class, please send a check to the Falcon Research Group, Box 248, Bow, WA 98232. Direct your questions to Bud Anderson at bud@frg.org or call (360) 757-1911.

Annual Dues

Most of you know our dues here at the FRG are $25.00 per year. If you like what we do and want to help, send them in. We thank you.

~~ Thank you for your support! ~~

2000 Summer Bulletin

noreply@blogger.com (PanamPEFA) — Sun, 02 Jul 2000 17:31:00 +0000

CHELAN RIDGE EXPERIMENTAL HAWK BANDING STATION

Immature female Sharp-shinned Hawk

Last fall, 25 FRG volunteers operated a new hawk banding station from 28 August to 16 October at Cooper Mountain, above the shores of Lake Chelan. During this effort, we banded 220 birds of prey, primarily Sharp-shinned Hawks (139), Cooper's Hawks (42) and, unexpectedly, quite a few Northern Goshawks (14). This total set a new fall banding record for Washington. The study was part of an on-going joint venture with the US Forest Service (project coordinator) and Hawkwatch International (migration counters).

Due to the success of the study, we are continuing and expanding our banding program at Chelan Ridge this year. The project starts on Friday, 1 September 2000, and will continue through October until the snow drives us off the mountain. The project is open to the public and we invite all interested FRG members to join us there. It is a beautiful mountain site (5,200') with sweeping views and lots of fresh air. It is also the only reliable place to see Broad-winged Hawks in Washington.
----- DIRECTIONS
To get to the ridge, drive to the town of Chelan and continue north on alternate route 97. Go about 3 miles or so to Apple Acres Road and take a left (DeLorme Atlas page 84, top left). Drive almost 5 miles and turn left on Antoine Creek Road. Continue up this route. It will eventually turn into a dirt FS road (8140) that climbs up for about a half-hour until it reaches the top of Chelan Ridge. It finally ends at a "T". Turn right here on FS road 8020 and drive about a mile to a parking area with two green San-i-kans on your right. By the way, do not turn left and drive up a little spur to the top of Cooper Mountain. Although it is a beautiful view, you want to stay on FS road 8020. From the parking area, walk to the other side of the road and look for a well-marked trail with abundant flagging that continues up the hill to the observation site. It is a little over a half-mile. Dress warmly, bring water and food and camp there overnight if you like. We generally have an evening fire every night to catch up on the day.

For more information, call or e-mail Bud.

Immature Merlin

FALL MIGRATION AND HAWK BANDING CLASS

For those of you who would like a more in-depth experience of the fall hawk migration, we will be offering introductory classes in both Seattle and Mt. Vernon beginning in August. There will be 4 class sessions in each city, two covering the history and scope of hawk migration and two on banding methods and handling techniques. Graduates of this class may join the FRG banding team in the blind at Chelan Ridge for further hands-on training in the processing of migrant hawks.

Seattle - Tuesdays 8-29 August Center for Urban Horticulture 7 pm

Mt. Vernon - Thursdays 10-31 August Padilla Bay Interpretive Center 7 pm

Cost of the class is $125.00. To register, send your check to the FRG, Box 248, Bow, WA 98232. For more information, call or e-mail Bud. Space is limited so register early.

Ed Deal & Brett McCallum at Chelan Ridge

CAPE VERDE PEREGRINES

We continue to study the little known race of Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus madens) in the Cape Verde Islands 400 miles off the West Coast of Africa. This year, a team of three people (Zach Smith, Kathy Gunther and Bud Anderson) visited the main island of Santiago from 8 March through 4 April. There were several "breakthroughs" in the islands this year.

First, we located two new eyries on Santiago. This brings the total number of known active peregrine sites in the islands to three. Both of these new pairs (as well as the historic site found by Anderson in 1997) were on remote, vertical, inaccessible cliffs. By finding them, we are starting to define what a Cape Verde peregrine nest site looks like. This process is extremely helpful and gives us a basic search image so we can find more sites in the future.

Second, we were able to capture and band an adult female, an extraordinary privilege for peregrine biologists. As far as we can tell, this was the first time that a live peregrine of this race had been captured alive. She was breathtakingly beautiful.

Third, we discovered that the Cape Verde peregrine is, in our opinion, indistinguishable from the closely related Barbary Falcon (Falco pelegrinoides) of Morocco and the Middle East. The plumage is the same, the tail length is comparable and the distinctive head color is identical. If the Barbary is a separate species, as many people think, then the Cape Verde peregrine more accurately falls within the Barbary group. More work remains to confirm this new view.

Finally, we confirmed two more breeding dates for this enigmatic race, bringing the total for the islands to 7. Prior to our trip, no one knew precisely when the birds laid eggs or even if there was a specific breeding season. This information will help us to find more sites in the future since we now know when birds are breeding.

We plan to return to the islands in the spring of 2001 to continue the survey. Our primary goals are to determine the size of the Cape Verde population and then document the distribution of the breeding pairs. This project was funded by donations from friends of the FRG as are all of our field studies.

Historic first photograph of Cape Verde
Peregrine / Barbary Falcon.

THE SAN JUAN NESTING PEREGRINES

We have been studying the San Juan peregrines for 25 years, most intensively for the last 8. This season, the population experienced a record number of breeding failures. Ten (59%) of the 17 known pairs did not produce young, which is the highest rate of failure we have seen so far in our study area. In the past, we saw a maximum of three failures in a single year. We suspect that the majority of failures were caused by a two day period of intense rain in early April.

Seventeen eyasses fledged at the eight sites that did produce young, an average of 2.125 young per successful nest. Among these pairs, there were at least two re-nestings.

Thanks to an observation by Marty Daniels and Jack Bettesworth, we located another new pair this year (#17), although there is evidence that they had been there for several years prior and we had simply missed finding them.

We welcome Martin Muller, Ed Deal, Marty Daniels, Pat Little, Kathy Gunther and Mark Prostor to the FRG banding team. They have completed the FRG climbing course, been certified and most banded their first eyass this year. Congratulations.

Once again we would like to thank the friends of the San Juan project for funding this research.

Pat Little banding his first peregrine
~ San Juan Islands ~

PEREGRINE BAND RETURNS

Here are some gems of information that help us learn what happens to our local nesting peregrines. There were quite a few of them since last winter (4), which encourages us to keep on banding. We continue to have an extraordinarily high rate of returns on these birds, 19 reports so far from 99 eyasses (19%).

Another nestling male banded by Bud Anderson in the San Juans on 29 May 1999 was found dead near Duncan, Vancouver Island, on 11 February of this year. This is our first report of a San Juan nestling dispersing to the northwest.

Roger Orness and Jack Bettesworth observed a female nest mate of the previous bird (#5) at Emerald Downs near Auburn, on 29 December 1999. They read her VID band clearly.

Jack and Roger were on a roll and read another band, this time at the Kent Valley Ponds on 24 January 2000. This female was banded by Wendy Gibble in the San Juans as a nestling on 12 June 1999 (Wendy originally banded the mother of this bird too as a nestling in the San Juans on 4 June 1997).

On the last day of the millennium, a team of FRG banders caught a beautiful immature male peregrine on the Samish Flats at Field Road. Bud Anderson banded it as a nestling on 26 June 1999, once again in the San Juans. It was an appropriate and fun way to end the century.

SEATTLE PEREGRINE UPDATE

For the first time in 6 years, Stewart and Bell succeeded in raising 4 young this year, three females and one male. Although Bell always lays 4 eggs, she has never fledged them all from the ledge until now. As I write this in mid-July, all of them are still doing fine. Two of the females were found on downtown Seattle streets but thanks to Eric Stauber of the WSU Veterinary Clinic and Kay Baxter of Sarvey Wildlife Care Center, both were returned to the air successfully.

Bell is now 6 years old and has produced a total of 20 eggs. We know that no more than four of her young may have survived prior to this year, so we are particularly gratified to see four more joining the population in 2000.

We thank Ruth Taylor and the Seattle Peregrine Team for doing such a great job monitoring the birds this year.

Bell in downtown Seattle

THE TACOMA PEREGRINES

After many years of false starts, the Tacoma pair of peregrines finally succeeded in raising a family in 2000. The birds nested on the east counterweight of the 11^th Street Bridge near the downtown area.

Despite supplying them with a custom-built, gravel floored, aesthetically and architecturally pleasing nest box, (in a gorgeous gray color) they laid their eggs on some dirt right out in the open with literally no cover whatsoever. Even so, all four of their eggs hatched and all four young fledged. Ironically, both pairs of city peregrines (Tacoma and Seattle) experienced far better productivity this year than the wild pairs in the San Juan Islands.

We banded the 4 eyasses on 6 June with the help and support of Dennis Ulmer and his crew from the State Department of Transportation. They have been incredibly cooperative during this project, particularly Kip Wylie, Mike Grillo and Jon Moergen.

Our happiness at seeing these birds finally succeed was dampened by the passing of our good friend Jim Lyles, who had been instrumental in monitoring these falcons over the years. Jim died suddenly of a heart attack in April. He had just established that the falcons had laid eggs but, sadly, was not able to see them hatch. We miss him a lot.

Greg and Tammy Pelletier are continuing the Tacoma peregrine web-site at the request of Jim's family. You can find it at http://www.tacomafalcons.org.

SKAGIT FLATS WINTER RAPTOR CENSUS

We have been counting the wintering raptor population on the Skagit Flats for eleven years. On 12 February, volunteer teams of hawkwatchers (a record 109 observers) counted all of the birds of prey on 27 routes from Chuckanut Drive to the Stillaguamish River and from Sedro Woolley to March Point in Skagit County. The survey lasts for 2 hours and covers approximately 160 square miles.

This year, we had the highest count ever. The teams observed 1,056 raptors including the following 13 species; Bald Eagles (475), Red-tailed Hawks (307), Northern Harriers (147), Rough-legged Hawks (57), American Kestrels (5), Merlins (10), Prairie Falcon (1), Peregrine Falcons (17), Gyrfalcons (2), Sharp-shinned Hawks (9), Cooper's Hawks (12), Barn Owls (2), Short-eared Owls (4), unidentified (8). Our previous high count was 887 in 1997.

The Skagit Flats are known for their high wintering population of hawks, eagles and falcons. As a result of our survey efforts, we determined that densities reach an average of 6.6 raptors per square mile. The importance of this region to wintering birds of prey is unmistakable and the Skagit Flats continue to be an unrecognized national treasure.

ANNUAL DUES

Many of you have already sent in your $25.00 annual dues for 2000. Thank you very much for your continued support. We appreciate it.

For the rest of you intrepid hawksters, send them in if you can as it does help out. If not, no worries. We'll keep you on the list anyway.

Good hawkwatching and we hope to see you at Chelan Ridge.

~~ Thank you for your support! ~~

1999 Spring Bulletin

noreply@blogger.com (PanamPEFA) — Fri, 02 Apr 1999 18:23:00 +0000

INTRODUCTION

Hi everyone,
In past years, we have always sent out our FRG newsletter by mail. This is our first E-newsletter. It describes some of the stuff we have been doing recently. Most of it is local for here in western Washington. We hope that you all enjoy it. If you have comments, corrections or suggestions, please send them on to bud@frg.org.

A NEW PAIR OF PEREGRINES BREEDING IN SEATTLE

Two years ago, Ed Deal found an adult female peregrine hanging out at the West Seattle Freeway Bridge. At that time (March 1997), we decided to put up a nest box in hopes that it would eventually attract a pair. Ed found another new female at the site last August and this spring, she succeeded in attracting an adult male. Both falcons are unbanded.

Martin Muller and Ruth Taylor have been observing the falcons and it appears that the female laid her very first egg on 28 April. We have been keeping this quiet until the pair got through the egg-laying period so they wouldn’t abandon their site due to disturbance. The bridge is fairly low and the birds are far more vulnerable than at the Washington Mutual Tower.

West Seattle peregrines at their new site.
Photo by: Martin Muller

Apparently, the word is now out (announced at the last WOS meeting), so we wanted to let all of you know too. Keep in mind that the pair is new, vulnerable and highly visible. For those of you who would like to see them, I would say that, if they succeed, it is best to delay your visit until mid-June. The young should be around two weeks old then.

White Bald Eagle Still Lives

For several years now, a rather famous white (beige really) Bald Eagle has been observed repeatedly in the area from Edison to Whidbey Island. It seems to move around alot in those areas. The last report we had of it was last June at the Padilla Bay Center near Bayview. FRG member Jim Shiflett reports seeing it two weeks ago near Deception Pass, confirming that it is still around.

Unique Bald Eagle
Photo by: Bill Clark

SKAGIT FLATS WINTER HAWK CENSUS

We held the tenth annual Skagit Flats Winter Hawk Census on 13 February this year. Ninety-two FRG members and volunteers showed up for the two-hour count. Despite windy weather, we observed a total of 773 birds of prey. This was slightly above our average of 755 birds. The highest count in the past was 887 (1997) and the lowest was 643 (1990). As usual, the "Big Four" (Balds, Red-tails, Harriers and Rough-legs) made up the majority of raptors (94%).
Here are the results:

Bald Eagle	364	Prairie Falcon	1
Red-tailed Hawk	204	Peregrine Falcon	12
Northern Harrier	104	Gyrfalcon	2
Rough-legged Hawk	51	Short-eared Owl	8
Sharp-shinned Hawk	2	Barn Owl	3
Cooper’s Hawk	7	Un. Buteo	5
American Kestrel	6	Un. Falcon	1
Merlin	2	Total	773

Adult male Cooper's Hawk

THE NATURE CONSERVANCY DIGITIZES SKAGIT COUNT DATA

One of the questions raised by the preceding winter hawk count data is what can be done with it? How can all of this information be put to the best use?

I am happy to report that our friends at the Nature Conservancy in Seattle kindly volunteered to digitize all of this information so we can get it out to private and government agencies responsible for land use planning in both Skagit and Snohomish Counties. We particularly want to thank volunteer Sue Clark, who spent over 80 hours plotting the locations of all 7,000 + sightings, a monumental job. Thank you Sue!

JACK'S HARRIER STUDY

It is ironic that we often know the least about our most common birds. The Northern Harrier is a great example of this phenomenon. Although they are observed commonly in our area throughout the fall, winter and spring, we really know very little about where they breed, how far they travel, whether they leave in winter, etc.

Jack Bettesworth has been trying to change this situation by studying Harriers on both Whidbey Island and in the Kent Valley. Last summer (1998) , he began color-marking both adults and young with yellow wing-tags and as a result, he is teaching all of us more about our local birds.

Jack reports that tagged juveniles from Whidbey Island have been seen this winter at Stanwood, the Samish Flats, Everett, and Ridgefield NWR, 165 miles south of Whidbey. One of his Whidbey adults was sighted on Fir Island and, most recently, this spring, he found that an 8-year-old female has returned to a nest site on Whidbey. In the Kent Valley, only one banded nestling did not migrate and remained there throughout the winter.

SNOWY OWL WINTER PHILOPATRY

As many of you remember, there was a minor irruption of Snowy Owls in our area three winters ago. Our team of banders (Wendy Gibble, Jack Bettesworth and Mark Gleason) captured and wing-tagged 10 of these birds, primarily on the Samish Flats.

The purpose of our research was to discover whether Snowys return to the same wintering areas in the Puget Sound area each winter We had long suspected this to be true, but without tags it was not possible to identify specific owls and prove the theory.

So, in the winter of 1996-97, we placed yellow, numbered tags on 10 Snowy owls. Most of these birds were immature and most were males.

Last year (1997-98), one of these owls (#11) returned to the Samish Flats, thus confirming our suspicions. It was seen several times over the season, near where it had been caught originally. In fact, it even roosted inside a barn which is unusual behavior for local Snowys.

Immature Snowy Owl
Samish Flats, Washington
(1997)

This winter, (1998-99) Scott Hoskin found another one of the tagged owls, # 12. Wendy Gibble had previously caught this large female on 1 March 1997. It showed up this time on 9 January, within 100 yards of where it was tagged originally. It was seen only twice more during the winter, once on 4 February and again on 1 March. These sightings occurred approximately 4.5 miles from the capture site, but all on the northern Skagit Flats.

This owl taught us that Snowys in western Washington might come back to their wintering areas at least two years later, sometimes to the exact same field. But, most interesting, the owl exhibited an almost nomadic winter behavior. Instead of always roosting in the same field (typical of our immature wintering Snowys), it moved over large areas of the Skagit system. Because of this unpredictability, few birders saw this "covert" owl.

A COUPLE OF SKAGIT PEREGRINE RECORDS

Over the years, our intrepid peregrine team has been banding wintering falcons on the Skagit Flats to see how many there are, where they hang out, how long they live, and hopefully, where they go. Lately, we have also wanted to find out if any of these birds are from the local San Juan Islands breeding population.

It is quite difficult to catch peregrines on the Skagit. The high wintering raptor population ensures that competition from other birds is fierce, particularly Bald Eagles, our trapping nemesis. So, for us, it is not unusual to go out for several days without catching a single falcon.

Therefore, it was worth noting that on 11 March, Jack Bettesworth, Eric Vandegrift, Scott Hoskin and I caught 3 peregrines in a single day, no doubt a record for the Skagit. Of course, this falls into the meaningless records department, but it was still remarkable, not to mention fun. The peregrines included an adult female, an immature female and an immature male. Wendy Gibble had banded the last bird earlier as a nestling at one of the San Juan sites on 31 May 1998.

San Juan nestling caught next winter, Samish Flats, Washington, 1999

The second record took place during my final hawk class field trip of the year. On that day, we saw 8 individual peregrines. One of these was Wendy's banded male eating a Common Snipe. I must tell you all that I have been leading field trips to the Skagit for over 15 years now, often 8-12 trips per season. I have never seen this many peregrines on a single day on the Flats. I regard it as yet another indication of the recovery of this species. Good news indeed.

AN UNUSUAL MERLIN DEATH

One obvious element of raptor biology is mortality. But it is an element that we seldom see. Last month, an acquaintance of mine was driving on Chuckanut Drive and saw an unknown object in the middle of his lane. As he approached at high speed, he realized too late that it was a bird, in fact, an immature female Merlin. Although he tried to slow down, the bird remained perched on the road until the last second, a fatal error. It flew up, was hit by the grill and killed instantly. My friend retrieved the bird and gave me a call.

I checked out the exact site and found that an American Robin was dead in the center of the lane. The Merlin had been feeding on it. The Robin had been smashed onto the road by cars. As I tried to pick it up, I found that it was stuck fast to the pavement by dried blood. As a result, the Merlin could not carry it from the road and apparently would not relinquish the kill.

The question is whether the Merlin killed and dropped the Robin or did it just see the meat on the road and fly down to carrion? Whatever the answer, it cost the bird its life.

SO, WHATS WITH THE SEATTLE PEREGRINES?

Adult male peregrine at the
Washington Mutual Tower, Seattle

It is now clear that Stewart and Bell will not be breeding this year. We had hoped they would cycle late, but no luck. Although it is not unusual for falcons to skip a year, the reasons for this behavior are unknown.

There are two possibilities that we are considering at present. It is possible that one of the adult birds, Stewart or Bell, has been replaced. Since the falcons are not nesting, we have not been able to confirm that they are both the original falcons,. Neither bird has spent time in front of the camera and it is very difficult to identify individual peregrines 56 floors up. If an adult has been replaced, it can often throw the pair out of synch, resulting in breeding failure.

Unfortunately, human disturbance may have also played a role this season, as there was activity at the site near egg laying time. We will hope for better luck next year.

ONLINE RAPTOR DATA BASE

Boise State University has an online raptor data base that some of you may find both interesting and useful. It is called the Raptor Information System and you can find it at:
http://www.ris.idbsu.edu
It is probably the most extensive database regarding birds of prey with over 29,000 citations.

MORE ON THE LOPEZ ISLAND WHITE RED-TAIL

The famous all white Red-tail that lived on Lopez Island for so many years was found dead over a year ago. It is now on display at the Lopez Museum. If you visit the island, make sure you stop and take a look.

Last summer, FRG member Pat Clark found another white red-tail, a nestling, on Lopez near the territory of the first bird. The second hawk was seen around the island several times but then disappeared. Bob Myhr, of the San Juan Preservation Trust, reports that an immature white red-tail is now being seen on neighboring Shaw Island, possibly the same bird.

CULLING THE FLOCK (Part two)

In our last newsletter, we requested that you contact us if you wanted to remain on our mailing list. I find it fascinating that of our 877 members, 179 (20%) of you sent along e-mail addresses. You are home free. We have heard from you.

MIGRATING BIRDS KNOW NO BOUNDARIES

The FRG will be hosting a lecture by Dr.Yossi Leshem, Director of the International Center for the Study of Bird Migration, an organization located in Israel. Yossi has a long association with raptors and other birds in Israel and was largely responsible for the development of the hawk migration studies in that country. He has also worked on bird strikes on jets, documenting aerial routes through Israel by means of radar, motor gliding with migrant raptors and a variety of other studies. In addition, he will be telling us about his work on nesting Lesser Kestrels and how it is bringing together young Israelis and Palestinians in a common cause. This effort was featured in last week's Time magazine.

The lecture will be held on Wednesday night, June 2 at 7:30 p.m. at the Center for Urban Horticulture in Seattle. Mark your calendar. It will be worth it.

BREEDING RAPTOR CLASS

Spring and summer means nesting raptors here in Washington. As you read this, eggs are hatching across the state. If you would like to learn more about this critical phase of raptor biology, come and join us for a 4-session class (20, 27 May-10, 17 June) in Seattle. The course will consist of a talk on basic raptor nesting biology followed by 3 guest lectures with leading experts in their fields, including:

Jim Fackler talking about the breeding behavior of Accipiters in the Cascades and Olympics
Jack Bettesworth describing his results on local nesting Northern Harriers.
Tom Gleason, leading expert on nesting Merlins in Washington, discussing his work.

We will also have 3 or 4 field trips in this class. There will be a two-day camping trip to the Yakima Canyon (22-23 May), a day trip to look at nesting red-tails on the Skagit Flats (5 June) and a likely visit to the new West Seattle Bridge peregrine site (if they succeed). We may do a single day trip to the canyon for those who can't do the overnight camping trip. If there is enough interest among Skagit/Whatcom area members, I can do two or three of the talks at Padilla Bay as well.

Classes will be held on Thursday nights at 7 p.m., starting 20 May at the Center for Urban Horticulture in Seattle. Cost of the class is $125.00. To register, send a check to the Falcon Research Group at the address at the bottom of this page. For questions, call Bud at (360) 757-1911.

VERACRUZ RIVER OF RAPTORS TOUR

The second annual FRG "River of Raptors" Tour will take place from 25 September- 2 October this year.

ANNUAL DUES

Thanks to all of you who have sent in your dues. The $25.00 helps us to continue this work and we appreciate that.

1998 Winter-Spring Bulletin

noreply@blogger.com (PanamPEFA) — Sun, 01 Mar 1998 19:25:00 +0000

Crested Caracara Shows Up In Neah Bay

The Crested Caracara (Polyborus plancus) is a species normally found in Latin America from Mexico south to Tierra del Fuego, although a few are seen in south Texas and Arizona. This winter, on 4 January, Jim Burlingame of Clallam Bay found a Caracara hunting in downtown Neah Bay in coastal Washington. A beginning birder, Mr. Burlingame had a difficult time convincing everyone that he really had a Caracara. There have been only two prior records in our state, the first at Westport in 1936, likely an escaped bird. The second was seen on 13 August 1983 at Ocean Shores by Doug and Chanra Bruce. It may be significant that it was also seen in an El Nino year.

We sent Jim Shiflett out to check on this bird on 22 January and he confirmed it was indeed a Crested Caracara. I consider this to be the second record for our state. Note also that all three records have occurred along the Pacific coastline, a natural leading line north. Jim Burlingame reports that his last sighting occurred in mid-February.

Another Sharp-Shin Band Return

An adult Sharp-shinned Hawk, banded in the mountains above Ellensburg by Jack Bettesworth on 29 September 1995, was found dead near Petaluma in the Sonoma Valley of California, just north of the Bay area, on 19 January 1998. The bird was at least four years old. From this recovery, we have learned that some of our fall migrant Sharpshins are wintering in central California. In fact, Jack tells me that this is his third Sharpshin recovery from the Petaluma area. These birds probably have no need to go further south than the warm climate and dense bird populations of the Bay area.

And Yet Another Peregrine Shot

Once again, someone has shot a Peregrine Falcon. This time an adult male was blasted near the Georgia Pacific Mill in downtown Bellingham. The adult lived, although it is now a cripple for life. Incredible! Some eyrie somewhere will now pass on to the next haggard tiercel.

I don't really want to get on a holy crusade here, but you know the only way this type of thing is going to stop is if we all teach our friends, relatives, students or whomever how remarkable and wonderful these birds are. It doesn't have to be a big deal, but I believe it is important to just reach out a little with your love of and knowledge of raptors. The only reason someone shot that Peregrine is that no one ever taught him or her about the incredible beauty and majesty of birds of prey. So when you have a chance, put in a good word. You never know where it will stop.

The Arrival of Black Bart

Last November, Wendy Gibble, Jack Bettesworth and I found a beautiful dark morph Roughleg on the Samish Flats at Darcy and Bayview-Edison Roads. We noticed that it was an immature because of its yellow eyes. It has been hanging out there ever since and has been seen by many hawkwatchers. What is nice about this bird is that we have found it in its first winter. Based on other observations of Roughlegs on the Skagit system, it will probably come back to the same location for the rest of its life, probably over 20 years. So, we've decided to have annual updates in our newsletter on this bird from now on.

We've named him Bart after local Whidbey Island artist, Bart Rulon, who was with us on the hawk census, and Black Bart because it is a dark morph. we'll have to wait until next year to tell if it is a male or female.

Seattle Peregrine Project

As I write this newsletter, we are gearing up for another year with Bell and Stewart (the peregrines nesting on the Washington Mutual Tower). Bell is already making scrapes in her gravel and vocalizing. Ray Congdon was over the side changing light bulbs and gravel in the nest box recently while she sat there just staring at him from about 2 feet away. She is such a remarkably tame falcon. On 12 March, we installed a new Sony S-VHS camera on the ledge. It should improve the image slightly over previous years. For those of you who watch the monitor in the Washington Mutual Bank branch each year, you'll also notice a different, higher camera angle. we're experimenting to see into the box better. Ruth Taylor is ably coordinating the study again this year and already has all seven daily team leaders lined up. If any of you are yearning to help out on this project, please call her at (206) 525-6345 and volunteer. I know space is limited, so you may want to be quick about it. She only has a few vacancies.

By the way, our friend and communications expert, Mark Prostor, who has helped us out tremendously, has arranged to put an on-going video image of Bell and Stewart on the worldwide web. we're hoping this image (focused on the nest box) will change approximately every 15 seconds. Look for it at

White Redtails

A friend of mine, Henry Kendall, is writing an article on the occurrence of white Redtails in the United States. I want to help him by asking for information from our membership for his paper. If you have observed an albinistic or leucocistic Redtail here in Washington, please pass along your information to me and I'll get it to him. For starters, I'm aware of white birds over the last 20 years near Everson, Sedro Woolley (current), Lopez Island, Whidbey Island, Graham, Grays Harbor and Ellensburg. Any of you have other sightings?

An Update on the San Juan Peregrine Project

Good news for the intrepid San Juan Peregrine Team as we begin our fifth year. Mr. George Lundgren, owner of Workskiff, Inc. has arranged for us to obtain a 21' marine aluminum boat for our project. This is going to upgrade our survey efforts of endangered San Juan peregrines tremendously. As you may recall, there are currently 13 pairs in the islands. In the past, at 7 pairs, it was fairly easy to cover them all, but with new pairs showing up every year, the logistics of 3 visits per site were becoming really tough. Not only that, but at one site last year, a pair nested on a 50' cliff, the lowest discovered nest in the San Juans. So now, every year, we need to survey all cliffs 50' and over in the entire archipelago, a major task. For these reasons, we really want to thank you George, and acknowledge your most generous help. We all appreciate it greatly. We also thank Russ Amick, Joe Langjahr of Foss Maritime, Wendy Gibble, Dave Schmalz of North Cascades Audubon, Barb Jensen and Bob Myhr of San Juan Islands Audubon for their financial assistance with the funding for the boat and motor and the combined San Juan Team for buying the boat trailer.

Skagit Winter Raptor Census

This was the ninth year for our winter hawk count. The survey area includes 27 routes extending across the Skagit River Delta. It stretches from the Chuckanut Mountains in the north, to the Stillaguamish River in the south, and from March Point in the west, to Sedro Woolley in the east, an area of 159.68 square miles. This winter we had 87 participants who generously helped out on the count. A big thank you to them all, especially to Bob Merrick and Pat Cozine who helped so much in organizing the count in 1998.

Here is what we found during the 2-hour count:

	number (percent)
1. Bald Eagles	430 (53%)
2. Red-tailed Hawk	211 (26%)
3. Northern Harrier	73 (9%)
4. Rough-legged Hawk	46 (5%)
5. Peregrine Falcon	12
6. Merlin	10
7. Short-eared Owl	7
8. Coopers Hawk	6
9. American Kestrel	5
10. Sharp-shinned Hawk	4
11. Common Barn Owl	3
12. Golden Eagle	2
13. Snowy Owl	2
14. Prairie Falcon	1
15. Gyrfalcon	1
16. Unidentified Buteo	4
17. Unidentified Accipiter	1
Total	818

The total count was 818 raptors, involving 15 species. As usual, the Big four (Balds, Reds, Harriers and Roughs) accounted for the majority (93%) of the total. By the way, this translates into an average winter density of 5.12 raptors per square mile!

Next year we plan to extend this survey to include the Lummi Flats in Whatcom County to compare winter density. We also have aspirations to get the Canadians going up on the Fraser Delta.

Snowy Owl No. 11 Returns to the Flats

You may recall that during the big Snowy invasion last winter, we color-tagged 10 Snowy Owls on the Skagit Flats. At least 7 of these birds were immature, having come down to Washington for their first year.

By late March, Bob Merrick found that most of these birds had left the flats, although Steve Mlodinow reports seeing two near Edison as late as 6 April.

Remarkably (and atypically) almost no Snowy Owls returned to western Washington this winter. Usually a certain percentage will come back year after year. No such luck for us. Let's blame it on El Nino.

However on 14 February , during the 1998 Washington Ornithological Society annual meeting in Mt. Vernon, two Snowys were seen by Jan Wiggers, Keith Wiggers and Bob Kuntz near Edison where we had tagged our birds. On closer inspection, they saw and read the wing tag. It was No.11, trapped on 1 March 1997 by Mark Gleason, a member of the Skagit Snowy Team.

So this bird left the Skagit last spring, flew up to the Arctic somewhere for the summer, and then motored on back down to the Skagit again this winter. This nicely proved our hypothesis (confirmed by others in both Minnesota and Massachusetts) that some Snowys here in western Washington do come back to the exact same wintering grounds, just like Peregrines and Gyrs. The owl is still present as I write this. Bob Merrick saw him again on 8 March.

Dues

Thank you to everyone who sent in their $25 dues. I appreciate your kindness, support and generosity.

FRG Tour to Veracruz, Mexico

This is quite simply the biggest hawk migration in the world! Every fall, approximately 4 million raptors migrate along the gulf coast of Mexico en route to Central and South America. The majority are Broad-winged Hawks, Swanson's Hawks and Turkey Vultures.

This fall, the FRG will sponsor our first ever international field trip to Veracruz, lead by international raptor ID expert Bill Clark. Bud will be along as a rather inexperienced co-leader. The week-long trip will take place from 26 September to 4 October. In addition to watching the huge migration, We'll be taking field trips to the adjoining countryside to see many Mexican specialties such as: Aplomado Falcons, Bat Falcons, Laughing Falcons, 3 species of kites, White Hawks, Gray Hawks, Short-tailed Hawks, Great Black Hawks, etc.

Cost of the tour is $1,250 (double occupancy) plus airfare. Space is limited to 6-12 people, so sign up early. We're currently working on finding the lowest group air fare possible. We expect it will be between $550-$600. If there are any travel agents in our membership with expertise in this area, please call Pat Hitchens at (206) 282-3033. Bill wants to coordinate the sign-ups locally, so if you would like more detailed information about the trip, or want to sign up immediately, call Pat Hitchens directly.

The Veracruz phenomenon is still relatively pristine in that it hasn't been discovered yet by commercial tour groups. It is, however, starting to become a legend among hawkwatchers. So I'd suggest that now is probably the best time to go, and if you want to join us this year, I suspect it would be wise to sign up soon. The trip is limited to 12 people maximum.

Practical Hawkwatching Series

"Beyond the Checklist"

I'm pleased to announce that I will be offering two new classes on advanced hawkwatching in Washington in 1998. There will be a class on nesting birds of prey, beginning this spring, and a class on fall migration beginning in early autumn. All of these classes, including the traditional winter hawkwatching course will now be included under our new title, Practical Hawkwatching.

The main purpose of these classes will be to introduce you to more advanced topics about raptor biology and also to allow you to contribute to the overall knowledge of birds of prey in Washington. The new classes are meant to bridge the gap between purely recreational hawkwatching and a more contributive type of field work. In other words, it will make greater use of your involvement with hawks.

These classes will be very different from the winter course. They will be smaller in size, include less class time and far more field trips, feature guest lectures, and require a greater commitment from each student.

If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, please read the following class descriptions. Enrollment will begin when I return from the Cape Verde Peregrine Survey on 17 April. First come, first served.

Beginning Nesting Raptors in Washington

In this class, you will learn more about the breeding behavior and distribution of diurnal raptors in western Washington. This is going to be an active, hands-on type of course limited to 10 people in the Seattle area and 10 in the Mt. Vernon/Bellingham area. Since this is an advanced class, students must have already attended the winter hawkwatching class and show a proficiency in hawk identification to enroll. The course will consist of the following three segments:

1. A two-part introductory lecture series describing the basic nesting biology of raptors in our state, including what species, when, where, how to find nests, avoiding disturbances, etc. The same classes will be held concurrently in Seattle (Center for Urban Horticulture) and Mt. Vernon (Padilla Bay Center) area to accommodate students in both areas.

2. A six-part guest lecture/discussion series presented by six local raptor experts including Jack Bettesworth on nesting Harriers, Ruth Taylor on the Seattle Peregrine Project, (tentatively) Tom Gleason on nesting Merlins, Jim Fackler on nesting Accipiters, Jim Watson on his Bald Eagle work including satellite telemetry, and Steve Layman on whatever he wants. The first three of these presentations will be held in Seattle and the last three in Mt. Vernon.

3. A series of field trips including visits to the U.W. Suzallo Library, the UPS egg collection, a nesting raptor recon trip to the Yakima Canyon, Kestrel banding with Tom Everell and Joan Christ, a visit to the Seattle Peregrine Project, and trips to several local raptor nests, possibly including a Coopers Hawk and Peregrine nest.

In addition, each student will be required to select a raptor species, do a basic literature review on that species, find and monitor their own raptor nest (establish hatching, fledging, productivity) throughout the 1998 breeding season, write a nest description, keep a field journal, fill out/submit a breeding bird survey card, and write a one-page summary report at the end of the season. Now don't let this intimidate you. I'll be helping you the whole way.

Finally, we are also going to try and have the class participants visit all of the nest sites located by each student during the fledging period.

Dates: Classes (attend 2)

Seattle: 22, 29 April Mt. Vernon: 23, 30 April

Lectures (attend all)

Seattle: 6, 13, 20 May Mt. Vernon: 7, 21 28 May

Cost: $225.00

The Fall Hawk Migration in Washington

This class is going to focus on the fall hawk migration here in Washington state, with both a national and international overview. During two evening lectures in August we'll discuss the dynamics of hawk migration, including what drives it, which raptor species migrate through our state, where you can go to observe migration, what the best times are, where these birds are going, and finally, the importance of hawk banding.

As a special addition, we'll have Jack Bettesworth describe the results of his five-year banding study at Diamond Head, a Cascade site first discovered by Al Ingram. I'm also working on one or two other guest lecturers.

This course will include a minimum of three migration field trips during September. The first will be a 3-day campout at Hart's Pass, near Winthrop, on Labor Day weekend (5-7 September). The second will be a weekend at Diamond Head and Red-top Mountain (12-13 September). We'll also include a third exploratory trip to an as yet undetermined eastern Washington ridge. We may even try to band some of the migrants. Please keep in mind that fall hawkwatching is extremely weather dependent. Daily counts, for example, can range from 0 to 100+ birds. Therefore, it can be both very boring and extremely exciting.

There is a slim chance for an optional weekend to Pt. Diablo, a famous site overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The trip would be in association with Allen Fish of the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory. We'll discuss this further as the class approaches.

This class will be an excellent introduction to the Veracruz trip. As with the breeding class, lectures will be held concurrently in both Seattle and Mt. Vernon.

Dates: Class lecture dates: TBA

Cost: $125.00

Final Note

Please hold your calls concerning these classes until 17 April. I will be out of the country until then and will be unable to answer your queries.