[obol] North Forest Grove (Washington Co) Raptor Route

[Lars and Gail Norgren]

     Darkness ended the route prematurely.
This is perhaps 70% of the route.
83.3 miles   5 hrs 13 minutes
start 9:33  53 degrees F
end   11:05 59 degrees F
start 1:22  63 degrees F peak temp 67 F 3:58pm
end   5:27  59 degrees F

Red-tailed Hawk       22              [1]
American Kestral,female 16
American Kestral,male    4
Merlin           female  1
Merlin           male    1             [2]
Peregrine                1
Bald Eagle               3ad           [3]
Great Horned Owl         2
Raven                    1
Great Blue Heron         3

[1]Two dark morphs. 3 territorial pairs
[2] Both Taiga subspecies. Female in morning
in open plains. Male in afternoon in deep mountain
valley.
[3]A pair at a nest. THis is not the nest on Hwy 6,
but a previously unknown(?) one on Hahn Rd, which I
discovered as a result of a minor modification of
the route.
Since Kestrals are so easy to determine sex, I kept
a separate count. The cogniscenti claim only female
Prairie Falcons occur in the Willamette Basin in
winter. I certainly detected a sex-based disparity today
in Kestrals.
Raven count was surprisingly low. Perhaps they were
all up in the hills at their nest areas. The pair at
my house has been much in evidence this week, 5 miles
nw of the route.
I counted herons because they were in the same habitat
as Red-tails and Kestrals, presumably hunting the same
prey(voles).
Lars Norgren MANNING OREGON