Although the weather report for today was iffy, we decided to try to get through our Grand Ronde raptor route. It turned out to be a good weather day, only sprinkling off and on, never pouring, with sun breaks and no fog. Happily, every species column was checked except Bald Eagle (which we usually see... don't know where they were hiding today).
It was exciting to find six (distant) White-tailed Kites on the route...
A Rough-legged Hawk...
Plus a Red-shouldered Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk, two Peregrine Falcons, and lots of Red-tailed Hawks and American Kestrels.
Here's Johnny scoping kites, harriers, and more...
However, the most exciting finds were a first for our route and they were not birds... they were three bobcat kittens up trees in a private property on our route that we have permission to drive through. A great many crows were loudly unhappy with the cats. I tried to get a photo of all three but only managed two at a time...
I did better with individual photos...
although the third kitty was not as cooperative...
What an exciting happening on our first of the season raptor run. Who knows what the North Santiam route will turn up... if we manage to do it before the end of the week... and month.
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