Stateline Wind Project Wildlife Monitoring Final Report - WEST, Inc.

Mean use estimates (number of birds/10-minute survey) were calculated (using detections within
800m of each point) by species (Table 11). Canada goose (0.141/survey), common raven
(0.097), red-tailed hawk (0.040), gray partridge (0.039), chukar (0.034), northern harrier (0.022),
ring-necked pheasant (0.015), mallard (0.015), Swainson’s hawk (0.014), rough-legged hawk
(0.013), and American kestrel (0.010) were the large bird species with the highest overall use.
The small bird species with the highest use were horned lark (1.649), western meadowlark
(0.334), European starling (0.041), and white-crowned sparrow (0.018). Horned lark, western
meadowlark, and common raven were the only species observed on more than 5% of the
surveys.
4.8.2 Avian Use by Seasons and Groups
Passerines were the most abundant group with 86.0% of the observations, while all other groups
each comprised less than 7% of the observations (Figure 17).
Passerines - Passerines were the most abundant avian group observed during all seasons (Figure
18). Passerines showed higher abundance in the summer (2.833) compared to spring (2.239), fall
(2.266) and winter (1.680).
Raptors - Raptor use was second highest to passerines in the spring (0.143) and summer (0.129),
third to passerines and upland gamebirds in the fall (0.085) and third to passerines and waterfowl
in the winter (0.104) (Figure 18). Raptors made up less than 5% of avian use (Figure 17).
Waterfowl/Waterbirds - The majority of waterfowl/waterbird use occurred in the winter, and
consisted primarily of several groups of Canada geese. A large group of American white
pelicans (40) was observed outside the 800-m view shed during the summer. In the spring, a
large group of unidentified gulls (30) was also observed outside the 800-m view shed.
4.9 Incidental Wildife Observations
A total of 1,007 individual bird detections within 223 separate groups were recorded incidentally
from August 2001 through December 2003 (Table 12). Over 64% of the observations were of
American pipits, sandhill cranes, and Canada geese, but they only made up 3% of the groups.
All other species comprised less than 8% of the observations. Red-tailed hawks and Swainson’s
hawks were the most frequently observed raptors.
A total of 170 mammal detections within 101 groups were recorded incidentally (Table 12).
Washington ground squirrels, white-tailed jackrabbit, and mule deer made up 87% of the
observations.
A total of 10 reptile detections were recorded including 7 northern pacific rattlesnakes, 2 yellowbellied
racers, and a gopher snake (Table 12).
4.10 Raptor Nest Surveys
Burrowing owl nesting activity is described in a section 4.11 below. No golden eagle or prairie
falcon nests were observed in the survey area during the 2002 and 2003 aerial surveys and none
were documented prior to construction (FPL Energy and CH2M Hill 2000, FPL Energy 2001).
Table 13 provides summary results for the 2001 pre-construction and the 2002-2003 post-
Stateline Monitoring Final Report 19
December 2004