Don’t write off the survey until you’ve driven the entire thing!

You know that old saying, “Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched?“ Well, that kind of applies to today’s survey. Only it should be, “Don’t write off the survey until you’ve driven the entire thing!”

This year, I won’t be writing a blog for each survey we conduct. In fact, the blogs will probably be relatively few, and today’s is a short one. But, today’s survey was rather unique, so I think I’ll share it. 

Amanda and I picked up an additional ECAS Winter Raptor Survey this year. In the past, we have done two surveys each month. But this year we picked up a third survey entitled “Waterville Northeast“. As the title indicates and the above map shows, it starts by the town of Waterville and makes a large loop to the north and east.

As we headed north on the route we didn’t see anything. Nothing At All. After about 10 miles we were wondering if this survey was even worth driving. It’s kind of boring when you don’t see anything to count. In fact, the first 30 miles (out of 75) were relatively sparse.

But then things opened up! We speculated that perhaps all the raptors were migrating together and they were all in the same vicinity. In fact, when we got to Rd F NW, everyone came out to play! We were glad we hadn’t given up and gone home.

All in all, we saw 29 individual birds, scattered over six species. Thus the thought, “Don’t write off the survey until you’ve driven the entire thing!“

Here is a summary of what was seen:

Red-tailed Hawk 7
American Kestrel 5
Northern Harrier 1
Bald Eagle (adult) 1
Rough-legged Hawk 13
Prairie Falcon 2