[Tweeters] Turkey Vultures

[Steve Hampton]

I wholeheartedly agree. Turkey Vultures, in addition to being regular
year-round in western Washington (although relatively sparse in winter),
are definitely a climate change winner so far. I expect them daily now
wherever there is open habitat. They are expanding north and increasing
throughout the northern portions of their range, coast to coast, with few
declines in the south. See eBird's new excellent trend maps, which have
remarkably fine resolution. It shows (for TUVU) their trends in summer
since 2007.
https://science.ebird.org/en/status-and-trends/species/turvul/trends-map

See my graph of their increase in winter as reported by Christmas Bird
Counts in the PNW, at
https://thecottonwoodpost.net/2020/03/09/the-invasion-of-the-pacific-northwest-californias-birds-expand-north-with-warmer-winters/

good birding,


On Sun, Apr 9, 2023 at 12:27 PM Scott Leavens <scottleavens at gmail.com>
wrote:


> Hey Jim,

>

> I've wondered the same thing. I live in Enumclaw and seeing them around

> the farms and fields is very common for most of the year. I reported the

> FOY ones yesterday because since joining tweeters I've noticed a lot of

> interest in them, although I haven't quite understood why.

>

> - Scott Leavens

>

> On Sun, Apr 9, 2023, 11:07 AM <jimbetz at jimbetz.com> wrote:

>

>> Tweet - Tweet - Tweety Tweet,

>>

>>    Hi all.  It is quite common to see posts about TUVUs - and, it

>> seems to me at

>> least - they are often reported as though they are "rare" or "notable"

>> (for

>> example a FOY/FOS).

>>    We live about 300 feet up on a hill that faces East looking up the

>> Skagit Valley.

>> We see TUVU ... often.  So much so that my tendency is to "just take

>> long enough

>> to establish if it is a TUVU or a Bald Eagle" ... and consider the ID of

>> it

>> being a TUVU as "disappointing" and at least half the time don't even

>> report it

>> on eBird.  If it is a bald or some other raptor (usually an RTH) I almost

>> always report it ... but the TUVUs are so "common" that they get

>> dismissed as

>> being unworthy of the time it takes to post a checklist (which is -not- a

>> lot of time).

>>

>>    And I will say that I -think- we see them pretty much all year round.

>> I

>> should just check my reports and see if this is true - my suspicion is

>> that we see them in every month of the year.

>>    I did that - checked my reports to eBird - and in the 3 years I've

>> been using eBird I see that I've seen TUVUs in every month except

>> Jan and Feb.  But I suspect that "I've just not reported them in those

>> months rather than that I didn't see any ... ???  In fact, eBird shows

>> TUVU reported in Skagit County for every week of the year except on in

>> Jan and one it Dec ... so that seems to support that they are here

>> year round.

>>    I do know that some TUVU migrate South - we saw many of them just last

>> October in Veracruz, Mx. and they -seemed- to be migrating rather than

>> residents.  But the reports of TUVU in Skagit appear to support the

>> statement that some of them, at least, do not migrate ... ???

>>

>>    It would seem correct for me to conclude that the TUVUs are 'common'

>> here in

>> Skagit County ... or at least not rare.

>>    I am NOT discounting other people's reports.  I'm wondering if the

>> reason

>> they are so common here is because we live in a much more rural area where

>> agriculture and logging are still major industries?  Or maybe it is due to

>> the fact that we sit where we have a very large field of view?

>>

>>    Anyone have any ideas about this?

>>                                                         - Jim

>>

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-- 
​Steve Hampton​
Port Townsend, WA  (qatáy)
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