יומן של Inland Pacific Northwest Raptor Migration 2020

The first week of October has passed and it's time for the weekly report. Over the week, an additional 36 observations were added to the project, putting the project at 473 total observations. We are still under the goal I set so hopefully with the help of dedicated birders and hawkwatchers, we can get back on pace.

I think the observation of the week should go to someone new, let's give a hand for @mdk23870 for an outstanding photo of a Great Horned Owl out by Powell Butte, Oregon. A new member to iNat community, let's give them a nice welcome to the site. For experienced birders, it's not that hard to find a Great Horned Owl but to me, they are just as enjoyable the four hundredth time as they are the first. They are always a special treat and as winter progresses, we should expect to see more owls as they become less elusive. You can see the observation here:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/61875884

For the next week, let's try to break 40 observations for the week. Plenty of raptors are out and about. Merlins are becoming more plentiful, Red-tails are being more cooperative and pretty soon, we will start seeing Rough-legged Hawks. This Friday, I'm going owling to try and find my first Oregon Barred Owl, so wish me luck. As for you, I wish the best and that you see something beyond awesome.

Title is pretty intuitive of what happened in the past week, it was an incredibly slow week for the project. We only acquired ten observations, a record low number. Not a great number for my expectations, though I didn't help much in the past week either. Don't expect much more help from me in the next week either since I'm going to the coast.

Today's observation of the week will go to @masonmaron for a photo of a rufous morph Western Red-tailed Hawk. While I have the opportunity, I'm going to take it. One thing I've stressed on in this project is the presence of vagrant Red-tailed Hawk subspecies showing up in eastern WA/OR. Since I moved into the area four years ago, I tagged over a dozen or so hawks that don't quite fall under the expected traits of the breeding subspecies. One of the things we learned only a couple years ago about the subspecies abieticola is, the existence of dark morphs. This was determined when eastern US got dark morphs in the winter. All of these sightings were identified as the Western race at the time but experts starting noting there weren't proportionally the same amount of light morph Westerns in the area, in fact none at all. This suggested the migrants belonged to a forgotten and currently unrecognized race. In response to this discovery, ebird created the slash calurus/abieticola to document dark morphs in the midwest and eastern US.

Question is, how many of our own dark morphs, especially in the winter, are truly dark morph Westerns? As of know, there's no definitive identification marks to separate dark morphs from the two subspecies. However, I looked at dozens of photos of proposed dark morph abieticola and I noticed that these individuals tended to have colder brown tones, a broad subterminal band and oftentimes funky tail patterns as a result of intergradation with Harlan's. Mason's bird does not exhibit any of these features so I think we can identify with certainty that it's a Western. But it's good to keep your eye out for these oddities. I would also recommend looking at the ebird top rated photos for the subspecies slash because there you'll see what I mean by funky tail patterns. Links below.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/62171791

https://ebird.org/media/catalog?taxonCode=rethaw9&tag=in&sort=rating_rank_desc&q=Red-tailed%20Hawk%20(calurus/abieticola)%20-%20Buteo%20jamaicensis%20calurus/abieticola

Let's break 500 observations this following week, it's only a mean 13 observations away. I wish you the best of luck hawkwatchers!

If there's anyone reading this posts, you might've noticed there was no post last Wednesday. Well, I was watching Pelagic Cormorants and Harbor Porpoises on the coast. But I'll give justice to the time lost and this week, I'll cover the past fourteen days and there will be "two" Observations of the Week.

During the week of Oct 15-21, we gained 27 observations from ten different species. That put us over my goal to acquire 500 observations, which is great and I hope we keep up the good work. The observation of the week will go to @gentilcore for an excellent capture of two adult Bald Eagles at Dog Lake, Lake Co, OR. I will go on a guess and see this is a breeding pair as eagles mate for life and they generally don't leave each other. When I was in Salem last week in Ankeny NWR, I saw a pair of adult eagles that were sitting by each other on their nest, though it being long after their chicks fledged. You can see the observation here:

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/63179965

On the week of Oct 22-today, we went right back into the gutter. Only nine observations added and that is yet again a record low for the project as a whole since it started last year. When this season ends in January, I would like to end this project with 1000 observations but teen or single digit additions per week is going to put us well short of that goal. This week's observation goes to @cgates326 for a Sharp-shinned Hawk that's really putting on the adorable face. In all truthfulness, sometimes I think these little hawks are comparable to Baby Yoda and it's perhaps the reason I enjoy this species so much. With more migrating into the area, expect more Sharp-shinned to be around.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/63530828

What can we expect for the next week. Well, October will end so I'll be writing the monthly post on Sunday. We, northeastern Oregon, got our first frost and snowfall two days ago but the forecast is suggesting warmer weather, which should be great for hawks. This Saturday, I will be owling (yes on Halloween night with a full moon) in the Elkhorn Mts in hopes of finding a Boreal Owl. It's an ambitious goal but I think it's dueable. If any of you want to try out your own luck for Boreal, just let me know and I can give your instructions to maximize your chances. Good luck birders!