[obol] Mew Gull Migration in Portland and Rough-legged Hawk

[Jim Danzenbaker]

Hi Dave,

On the 11th or 12th (I forget which), I saw a flock of over 120 gulls
from my back deck in Battle Ground, Clark County, WA spiralling
upwards much like a flock of migrating raptors.  I identified them as
Mew Gulls mostly by size as they were quite distant.  The following
day, there were a few leftover gulls and today, after being gone for
several more days, I'm back to the odd 1-3 gulls here and there.

Jim Danzenbaker
Sales Manager - the Americas
Kowa-Optimed Inc.
perched in.....Battle Ground, WA


On 3/14/08, sandyleapt at comcast.net <sandyleapt at comcast.net> wrote:
> Hi David.  Thanks for this e-mail.  Maybe this explains the gulls I saw last
> night on my way home (03/13/08).  I almost drove off the road.
> Fortunately the light at Burnside and Kelly in Gresham turned red so I could
> sit and watch them.  I counted at least 150 birds and if I had to describe
> what they were doing, I would say they looked very much like a dust devil
> full of gulls or kettle of Turkey Vultures whirling in the sky.  It was a
> fascinating sight.
>
>  Sandy Leaptrott
>  NE Portland
>   -------------- Original message ----------------------
>  From: "Helzer, David" <David.Helzer at portofportland.com>
>  > OBOL,
>  >
>  > There was a big spike in MEW GULL numbers today at Portland Airport with
>  > a flock of at least 150.  The numbers started to pick up a few days ago
>  > with flocks of 20-30.  This fits the pattern I have seen in the last 3
>  > springs of monitoring gulls (among other species ) here at PDX.  Each
>  > March there is a significant push of MEWS, mostly adults. In March 2006,
>  > the flocks were well over 200 birds.
>  >
>  > Also, on March 11 there was a real sharp looking ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK, it
>  > was one of the lightest I have seen.  Probably an adult female and not
>  > one of the birds we had earlier in the season.  This makes for 3
>  > (possibly 4) different Rough-legs at PDX since late January.
>  >
>  >
>  > Dave Helzer
>  > Wildlife Technician
>  > Port of Portland Aviation Environmental
>  > Portland International Airport
>  > > T: 503.460.4879
>  > C: 503.830.0713
>  > david.helzer at portofportland.com
>  >
>  >
>
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: "Helzer, David" <David.Helzer at portofportland.com>
> To: <obol at lists.oregonstate.edu>
> Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2008 01:50:09 +0000
> Subject: [obol] Mew Gull Migration in Portland and Rough-legged Hawk
>
>
>
> OBOL,
>
> There was a big spike in MEW GULL numbers today at Portland Airport with a
> flock of at least 150.  The numbers started to pick up a few days ago with
> flocks of 20-30.  This fits the pattern I have seen in the last 3 springs of
> monitoring gulls (among other species ) here at PDX.  Each March there is a
> significant push of MEWS, mostly adults. In March 2006, the flocks were well
> over 200 birds.
>
> Also, on March 11 there was a real sharp looking ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK, it was
> one of the lightest I have seen.  Probably an adult female and not one of
> the birds we had earlier in the season.  This makes for 3 (possibly 4)
> different Rough-legs at PDX since late January.
>
>
> Dave Helzer
> Wildlife Technician
> Port of Portland Aviation Environmental
> Portland International Airport
> T: 503.460.4879
> C: 503.830.0713
> david.helzer at portofportland.com
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