Migration Underway
The second September Wednesday is here, so time for another weekly report for the IPNRM. This was a really slow week as we only acquired 25 new observations, little under half of what got last week. Our total observation count is 337, which is great. Keep up the good work! It was still a good week though, several Accipiters, photogenic Buteos and a hooting screech-owl. We even tagged a new Burrowing Owl observation but the downside is, it lost its life to a vehicle. As the following weeks progress, let's get a live one.
The observation of this week will go to @philkahler for an excellent photograph of a Cooper's Hawk in my hometown of College Place, WA. The most common Accipiter within Washington and Oregon, they are Accipiter most often associated with humans. They can be identified from their smaller counterpart, the Sharp-shinned Hawk, by the gray nape and "crowned" appearance, meaning the blue-gray does not extend below the eyes. In flight, Cooper's Hawks have rufous and white barred underwing coverts contrary to rufous and black barring in Sharp-shinned Hawks. I've found these features more reliable than anything field guides publish so you have that. You can see Phil's observation here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/58925631
Once again I would like to stress the need for seeing Broad-winged Hawks. I've been giving this some great thought after the "first" three Blue Mountain records have come forth this migration season. These guys are annual, you just need to be in the right place at the right time to see them. So I offer some places to try for Broad-wings. Peak migration season is the next two weeks so it's a very small window to see them. I'll just list them below.
Ferguson Ridge -- Wallowa Mts -- Wallowa County, OR
Anthony Lakes -- Elkhorn Mts -- Baker County, OR
Mount Fanny -- Wallowa Mts -- Union County, OR
Mount Hood -- Cascades -- Hood River County, OR
Steens Summit -- Steen Mts -- Harney County, OR
White Mountain -- Kettle River Range -- Ferry County, WA
Tiffany Mountain -- Cascades -- Okanogan County, WA
Mount Adams -- Cascades -- Yakima County, WA
Table Rock -- Blue Mts -- Columbia County, WA
Mount Spokane -- Rocky Mts -- Spokane County, WA
In other advice, if you don't have time, energy or means of getting on top of a mountain, if you know any fields that are plowed, kettles of Swainson's Hawks are huge. And sometimes you may get a special surprise in those kettles. Touchet, Washington is a great place to go looking for such flocks. For Oregon, the combined smoke from McKenzie Fire in Eugene and the Sacramento, Cal fire are keeping all raptors grounded in the valleys. I'm going to heading out some time soon to see a Union County Ferruginous, which is a good county hawk. Who knows what might be in your county? Good luck hawkwatchers!
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