Northern Umatilla County Raptor Route

It was a perfect day to go looking for raptors.  Snow covered fields, partly cloudy skies, temperatures just above freezing - all these are conducive to good raptor watching.  Mike and MerryLynn, Rodger and I spent the day counting raptors and came up with a total of 329 hawks and owls.  The breakdown is as follows: 239 red-tailed hawks, 52 American kestrels, 23 northern harriers, 1 sub-adult bald eagle, 1 immature golden eagle, 3 rough-legged hawks, 2 prairie falcons, 2 Cooper's hawks, 1 sharp-shinned hawk, 2 northern goshawks and 3 great horned owls.  Other birds of interest were a northern shrike, 54 wild turkeys, a downy woodpecker, 3 Eurasian collared doves, 4 great blue herons mousing, and numerous quail and pheasants.  We watched 3 coyotes hunting and saw 6 mule deer.       Ginger