The second week has passed for the project so I'll go over what happened over the week and announce the observation I enjoyed the most. Well, one slow week turns into two and this project officially only has 28 observations. I have come up with two theories that might explain the lack of raptors being spotted. One, raptors might be getting harder to find because it's the breeding season. I suspect that once August comes around, we'll see a spike in numbers. Theory number two is, July has been proven to be the least birding month by citizen science and nobody is going out to see birds. So I suggest if you happen to read this post, go out birding more often in July.
I will mention with pride though, three new species have been spotted during the week. These three species are the Cooper's Hawk, Barred Owl and Flammulated Owl. And I believe that's the cue for mentioning the observation of the week for the project. Five days ago, @stephstrag photographed a female Flammulated Owl that was sitting on two eggs. There's several reasons why I chose this as the observation for the week. One, these are put-in-the-field-guide-now kind of photos. Two, last year's project failed to obtain any observations of a Flammulated Owl so I think some recognition of a hard to find species is in order. You can find the observation here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/52620530
I now feel like talking about the Flammulated Owl. Though it's an incredibly hard species to find, it is believed to be much more common than most think. They prefer to breed in open pine forests, especially ponderosa forests, in dry areas. That makes pretty much all of eastern Oregon more than ideal habitat this species. I've heard Flammulated Owls only a hand full of times but I can't say they do justice for actually seeing them. My method of finding them, go at night in suitable habitat and listen. I generally do these owling trips between midnight and sunrise, so you mortal people might encounter seem issues. :) So long and good birding!
Things are really starting to heat up on IPNRM as summer is blasting its will upon us. This week, we almost doubled the amount of observations comparative to the first two weeks on the project. As a short summary, there are now 48 photographed raptors, covering over fifteen species. Three of these species are new, including the Prairie Falcon and Northern Goshawk. The third species will be discussed later. This spike in observations is awesome and I hope it holds up.
This week's observation of the week goes to @traskcolby for a fantastic shot of a juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk. Guess where it was found, where every other eastern Oregon rarity shows up, Malheur NWR Headquarters. This sighting is sending me vibes that this year will be a good interruption for Red-shouldered Hawks on the project. Last year, we got an astounding five sightings of this species, two of which being my sighting of the first Wallowa County record of the species. I also know in January, outside of the project's date range, another RSHA was in Union County. I believe under watchful eyes, we can find more this year. Trask's sighting is below. Good birding hawkwatchers!
Though we still have two days left in July, I do these posts weekly. It was a great week even though in my area, it was in the high 90's making it unbearable to do anything unless you're car birding with a nice A/C. But on the contrary, car birding is the best birding for hawks, so maybe you didn't encounter problems with the heat.
As I said, this was a fantastic week for IPNRM as we are just under 100 observations in just our first month of the project. Keep the good work going and we can have 600 observations by the end of the project but let's make a goal. How about a thousand observations? If you're up for the challenge, just photograph raptors (hawks, eagles, owls, vultures, etc) for the next five months.
New species being added to the list this week includes the Long-eared Owl and the other species is the observation for the week. Without further adieu, I deem the observation of the week goes to @flammulated for his fantastic image of some Burrowing Owls in Harney County, Oregon. These are probably one of my favorite owls and to say the least, I envy the observation since I've seen these owls in every state I've birded in... but Oregon. And I live this state... It seems to be a known spot for the species so it's like why can't I just take the four hour drive down. Maybe if my birding companion wasn't an essential worker! XD You can see the observation here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/54362367
Fair warning, though August is just around the corner, I'm going to make a whole separate post summarizing the month along an observation for the month, that'll be different from the week spotlights. So stay tuned the next couple days. Good birding everyone!