[obol] 4th Applegate-Williams raptor count (JoCo)

[Dennis P. Vroman]

The 4th Applegate-Williams area raptor survey was completed today (03-21-08).  Route is along the roads surrounding the towns of Murphy and Williams, Josephine Co. 

Total of 37.0 miles; 3.5 hours; weather:  mostly cloudy to mostly clear.  Found were:

Red-tailed Hawk - 11 (lowest for count periods)
American Kestrel - 4
Red-shouldered Hawk - 1
White-tailed Kite - 1
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Barn Owl - 1 (seen from road in BLM shed-barn)
Golden Eagle - 1 (in flight over lower Williams Cr; just into Josephine Co; being harassed by a pair of Common Ravens)

...and last but by no way least - Turkey Vulture - 52 (believe this is a record for all past raptor counts taken)

Others of interest:  1 EURASIAN-COLLARED DOVE (same location as previous detections), MARSH WREN - singing from small, weedy road ditch vegetation right where I stopped to look around, 3 RUDDY DUCKS at Pacifica (my only other documented sighting here was 1 in the month of October).  

A loose, Vulture-like circling flock of 70+ COMMON RAVENS over the mouth of Williams Cr and the Applegate River.

There were 100s if not 1000s of SWALLOWS along the Applegate River and surrounding areas this morning, IDed Trees (most) and Violet-greens, could have been some other stray species, but didn't have time for intense searching.

Dennis (north of Grants Pass)
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