WHO – YOU the VOLUNTEER
WHAT - Count migrating Turkey
Vultures
WHEN - Every Day from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.
WHERE - Five miles south of
the Kern River Preserve.
WHY – For science - Each
year an average of 28,000 vultures pass through this valley on the way
to their wintering grounds in Mexico and beyond.
MEET NEW PEOPLE – BE A
CITIZEN SCIENTIST VOLUNTEER - HAVE FUN IN THE DESERT SUN
Who?
The Kern Valley Turkey Vulture
Watch is run as an entirely volunteer project by Terri Gallion of Onyx, co-founder of the
Kern Valley Vulture Watch.
Thank you volunteer vulture counters!
Lisa Allen, Phyllis Allin, Phil Allin, Jeff Amaral, Linda Anderson,
Margaret Anderson, Linda Andrews, Bob Barnes, Darrell Barnes, Susan Blair, Ron Bolyard, Lloyd Brubacker, Jennifer Bruschi, Brenda Burnett, Dan Burnett, Susan Carter, Sophie Chang, Bob
Chapman, Emily Cohen, Dan Cooper, Jeremy Ellis, Shelley Ellis, Rich Englehorn, John Fitch, Steve Fletcher, Birdie Foster, Bill Foster,
Danny Foster, Joanna Foster, Terri Gallion, Bruce Garlinger, Marilyn Giles, Paul Giles,
Kate Goodson, Traci Grant, Ellene Gravelle,
Noel Gravelle, Trina Guerra, Carlos Gutierrez, Angela Hair, Murrelet Halterman,
Larry Harlan, Joe
Hart, Lois Hart, Dave Harvey, Phil Heavin, Donnie Higgins, Steve Holden, Ralph Hyde, Steve
Irvine, Jim Jennings, Sandy Junkunc, Nancy Kenyon, Jim Kerr, Jeff King,
Brenda Kyle, Ken Kyle, Amy Kuritsubo,
Denise LaBerteaux, Lisa Lavelle, Thomas Lavelle, Buz Lunsford, Janet Lynn, Paul Mason, Dave Mason, Vikki Mazon, Janine McCabe, Ginger McGuire, Mehmet McMillan, Dale McMillan, Shannon McNeil, Erik Meriwether,
Dori Meyers, Terri Middlemiss, Christine Miller, Marya Miller, Sue Mills, Clark Moore, Jean Moore, Rich Moore,
Chris Otahal, Bob Parker, Julie Pierce, Wendy Rannals, Karen Ritchie,
Nancy Robinson, Rob Robinson, Eli Rose, Sean Rowe, Justin Schuetz, Joyce Seibold,
John Schmitt, Alison Sheehey, Beaujourn Shull, Vern Shull, Jacque Smith, Apple Snider, Bob Steele, Pamela Stones,
Wendy Stroth, Lee Sutton, Shirley Sutton, Sharon Telford, Dave Telford, Ramona Van Riper,
Thelma Valdez, Richard Verdugo, Spencer Verdugo, Sandra Wieser, Phillip Williams,
JENNA-WILLOW, Al Woodman, Joanne
Woodman, and Liza Zimring.
Thank you to the following for enlisting many
of the volunteer counters listed above: Bob Barnes (Valley Wild), Cerro Coso College (Kern River Valley Campus),
Kerncrest Audubon Society (eastern Kern County), Kern River Preserve (Weldon), Kern River
Research Center (Weldon), Ornithological Newsletter, and Sea & Sage Audubon Society
(Orange County).
If your name is not here, please let us know
it was difficult to remember all the names of the many wonderful volunteers we have had
over the years.
What?
Data collected from the field included:
time of passing over the count site, species, number, flight behavior (e.g.: soaring,
power flight, flap & glide), location from the count site as they passed over (east,
center, west), bird observation comments, hourly temperature, hourly wind speed, hourly
wind direction, hourly cloud type, hourly % of cloud cover, weather comments (visibility,
precipitation, wind gust speeds, etc.). A daily bird and mammal species list was kept
including a count of the number of individuals on some days.
When?
The count would start on 1 September and conclude
20 October. Coverage almost always took place between 0900 hrs. - 1500 hrs.
Where?
The count site was located where a
northeast facing slope, Kelso Valley Road, and the Kelso Creek bed converge. This site is
about five miles south of the intersection of State Highway 178 (milepost 57...fifty-seven
miles northeast of Bakersfield) and Kelso Valley Road, Weldon, Kern County, California.
Audubon-California's Kern River Preserve is across Hwy. 178 from the intersection.
Why we conducted a Turkey Vulture Count for thirteen years?
For years
Kern River Valley residents noticed thousands of Turkey Vultures
migrating southward in September and October. In 1994, under the
auspices of the Kern River Research Center, staff member Sean Rowe and
volunteer Terri Gallion started the first Kern Valley Vulture Watch.
They wanted to document the magnitude of the vulture migration. The
first Vulture Watch recorded 27,415 vultures - establishing one of the
largest known migrations of Turkey Vultures over a single point north of
Mexico. The September 1 - October 20, 2003 Vulture Watch tallied 30,458 vultures.
For
years
from September 1st through October 20th from 1994-2006 researchers and volunteers
counted Turkey Vultures migrating through the Kern River Valley.
In 2004 the count period was shortened in an attempt to begin a new
protocol to answer some of the questions below. This ongoing effort is
conducted to monitor year to year changes in the migration. The Vulture
Watch is slowly expanding to better answer questions such as:
What is
their migration route from start to finish?
Where are
their nightly roosts along the entire migration route?
What other
migration routes do they use through California?
What is the
magnitude of alternative migration routes?
You are
welcome to come to the Kern River Valley to be a part of this research
project and to help us find answers to these and other questions.
In
celebration of this research effort and phenomenon of nature the 1st
Annual Kern Valley Turkey Vulture Festival was initiated on the last
weekend in September, 1995. It continues to be held every year on the
last weekend in September.
Volunteers were essential
Volunteers are needed each year to
help produce the Vulture Festival each year. Please contact the Kern
River Preserve to find out how you can help.
Turkey Vulture Count
Statistics found on the
Daily Turkey Vulture/Raptor Count Statistics page.
