Counting migrating raptors

Beginning on the 8th of September, and running through the end of October, volunteers from the East Cascades Audubon Society (ECAS), based in Bend, travel the backroads of Sisters Country to a high point on Green Ridge to count migrating raptors: hawks, harriers, falcons, eagles and turkey vultures.

There are usually six to 10 ECAS members and other volunteers watching the sky to the north for a variety of hawk and eagles migrating south, using the updrafts along the western face of Green Ridge to make the flight easier. This year, volunteer counters from the High Desert Museum joined ECAS counters, extending the count time and providing additional data.

OCAS member Kim Boddie coordinates the count activity and keeps all the records of migrating birds.

"This is a wonderful opportunity to get to know the hawks, as there is almost always someone on the ridge who really knows his or her hawks and can identify them accurately and quickly," Boddie said.

Peter Lowe, from Bend, and Chuck Gates, biology teacher at Crook County High School, are among the top counters. Both have been birding for more years than they will admit, and both can ID a bird on the wing every time. Peter is exceptional at spotting a small sharp-shinned hawk - about robin-sized - over a half-mile away without the aid of binoculars.

Often, a novice birder will take part in the count, and when they hear Lowe say, "Here comes another sharpie, low, right over there between those two snags," wonders what he's talking about, as everyone raises their binoculars and starts scanning the sky where Peter is pointing.

To make things a little easier, Boddie has a fake horned owl mounted on the top of a pole about 50 yards from the observations site. Often a passing hawk will spot the owl and try to knock it off it's perch, which tells you what hawks think of great horned owls.

Zoologically, hawks are broken down into categories; "sharpie" is the nickname of the smallest member of the bird hawk tribe - stealthy hawks that hide in a tree and dash out quickly to snatch a bird out of the air, or off a feeder. Next in size among the accipiters is the Cooper's hawk , and the largest is the goshawk. They all have short, blunt wings and long tails.

The soaring hawks, known as buteos, are built differently. They include the common red-tailed hawk, ferruginous hawk, Swainson hawk and others. Broad-winged and red-shouldered hawks have not been common on the Green Ridge count, but are becoming more so, which is somewhat of a mystery. There is one harrier - a sort of combination owl and hawk, represented by the northern harrier, which used to be known as the marsh hawk.

There is also one "fish hawk" - the osprey - migrating over Green Ridge; it's a great traveler, spending summers in North America and the Northwest Territories, and winters in South America and Mexico.

Then there are the falcons. It's always exciting to hear Lowe suddenly announce: "Peregrine! Over to the north, Mt. Hood right behind it!"

The reason for the count is to put the ECAS data together with other counts talking place at the same time throughout the U.S. and Canada, which will eventually spot trends in passing raptors.

So far this season, Audubon and High Desert Museum counters have seen a total of 119 species, which includes 69 turkey vultures; 83 sharp-shinned hawks; 11 bald eagles; four golden eagles; three broad-winged and four red-shouldered hawks; and 29 red-tailed hawks.

The other benefit of the count is passing on the love of birds to the younger generation, such as 10-year-old Emily Belcher, who showed up on the count with her dad, and 14-year-old Parker Gerard, who are both keeping a life list of the birds they'll see in their lifetime. Belcher can identify a wide variety of birds just by their sound, and Gerard, who is keeping a journal with drawings to remind him of the day when he got to see the snowy owl hanging around Malheur National Wildlife Refuge last winter.