Winter Raptor Survey Project
by Jeff Fleischer
Jeff Fleischer was born and raised in southeast PA in a semi-rural area, developing a love of the outdoors, and wildlife in particular. He moved out west to attend Oregon State University in 1969 to pursue a Wildlife Management degree. During the summers, between school years, he was fortunate to work as a student trainee for the US Fish and Wildlife Service on three different national wildlife refuges in the west. Upon graduation, his first permanent duty station was a year and a half at Malheur NWR, followed by a two-year assignment at a refuge in north TX, then finishing his career with an eight-year stint on the Klamath Basin NWR, where he developed a keen interest in birds of prey.
He then moved his family to the Willamette Valley where he worked another 25 years with the US Postal Service in Albany, OR. It was during that time in Albany where he spent a lot of time birding and ultimately developing a feel for how important Linn County (his home county) was for wintering birds of prey. Linn County is known as the grass seed capital of the world and as such supports a tremendous rodent population. A lot of winter days spent in the field yielded hundreds of birds of prey with a large variety of species attracted to this food base. The wildlife survey work that he accomplished while working on the refuges created a desire to more formally census these wintering birds. This led to developing the current Winter Raptor Survey Project (WRSP), which completed its 17th survey season this past winter.
The WRSP is sponsored by the East Cascades Audubon Society chapter based in Bend, OR. The project was originally designed to survey only areas throughout OR and, through survey work, try to determine density and distribution for a variety of wintering raptor species, and monitoring changes from year-to-year. A desire to understand how OR fits in with the rest of the Pacific NW regarding birds of prey has led to a formidable expansion of the project.
The project is an incredible display of citizen science in serious action! The first year the project had 79 routes, the end of last winter saw that number increased to 452, covering over 27,000 miles of transects each month throughout OR, ID, WA, a small part of northern CA, and a small part of NE Utah, surveyed by a cadre of volunteers exceeding 350! The project will be expanded this coming season as there are more areas in WA that need to be covered to get an even fuller picture of raptor use in the Pacific NW.
The zoom presentation, titled “Winter Raptor Survey Project“, will offer the viewers a chance to see how this project was developed and how it has expanded over the years. It is full of wonderful photographs of all 31 species that have been found during project surveys. Most of the photos were taken by project participants which makes this program and the project a very personal experience for everyone involved. In addition to the photos, there will be accompanying charts and maps that help display the data that has been collected over the years. Come join us to learn about birds of prey in the Pacific Northwest through this great citizen science project and feel free to bring your questions, looking forward to a lively presentation and discussion time!
