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Southwest Washington Wildlife Reports
Fred Dobler, Wildlife Program Manager

January 3, 2006

Wildlife Diversity Division

Injured Bald Eagle– Last week, an adult bald eagle was found unable to fly in Lewis and Clark State Park in Lewis County. WDFW Sargent Holden assisted by Wildlife Biologist Woodin and State Parks Ranger Lipparelli safely captured the eagle. It was then transported it to a veterinarian authorized for Wildlife Rehabilitation where the eagle was evaluated. No apparent injury like broken bones or bullet/pellets were found. The eagle was then placed in a Wildlife Rehabilitation Facility with fight cages large enough for an eagle. It is hoped that this bird will soon recover and regain it's flight capacities so it can be returned to the wild.

Game Division

Mt. St. Helens Wildlife Area Elk Winter Monitoring– Wildlife Area Manager Calkins conducted a third count of elk using the mudflow portion of the Mt. St. Helens Wildlife Area on December 30. Human disturbance probably affected this count. A hiker was seen walking the road through the area. The person was headed west from the ford crossing about half way up the valley. Because elk were present near the road a short distance beyond (east of) the ford it is assumed that he had turned around at that point. There were no elk present on the mudflow west of the ford. Mixed rain and snow was falling on arrival at the visitor center but stopped during the count. There was no snow on the ground, temperature was 40 degrees with a SE wind of 5-13 mph. Conditions in the valley were 44 degrees with an east wind averaging 7 mph. A note of interest is that an adult bald eagle was seen soaring over the valley.

A total of 108 elk were seen in the survey area that included 19 on the south side of the river. 102 of these were classified including 8 calves, 48 cows, 8 spikes and 38 bulls. Since these were all at the east end of the area it is probable that the number of elk using the site is higher than that number. Calkins estimates that during the first two counts about 2/3 of the animals seen were at this east end so it is possible that the number of elk using the area has dropped but we cannot be sure.