Expecting a Record Setting Year!

READY, SET, GO!  ~BEGIN THE 2014 FALL HAWK-WATCHING SEASON~

Jimmy and I are very excited to invite you to the Hawk Watch site this year, because this will be the year we expect to cross a milestone in Tennessee hawk watching. We are only 601 birds away from reporting 50,000 sightings of Broad-winged Hawks since the Soddy Counts began!

Bill Haley , who, in May of 1993, first stepped onto the present Soddy count location atop Flat Top, dubbed it Soddy Mountain Hawk Watch for it's proximity to overlooking the Soddy-Daisy Townships where he grew up.  Check out the history on our history page, in an article written by Bill, himself. 

Jimmy was excited, when we were able to catch up the stats for the last several years, to be able to add up a grand total through last year's final reports.  Discovering that we neared the 50,000 Broad-wing total was a pleasant surprise, and he has been sitting on the info for several months, about to burst to be able to reveal it. 

He wants YOU to be with us when we count that significant 50,000th Broadie.  We will begin manning the site on a regular basis September 10/11th, and will continue daily, as weather permits, to the end of the month.  Of course, anyone is welcome to sit before or after the manned hours, and let us know what you see.  Hawks and other raptors will be migrating through, even now as I write. And we might spend a few hours up there to see what's scooting by early, but it will be "if and when" we can scoot up there. And please remember, as Bill would like us to remind you, hawk watching doesn't begin or end with Broad-wing season. Many of the hawk watching regulars love to enjoy the slower pace and variety of hawks passing through in October and November as often as they can get to the site.  We also see Bald Eagles, osprey, falcons, cormorants, migrating warblers, and songbirds, hummingbirds, butterflies, and many vultures....as well as other singular and nature related sightings.  When we share it with good company, there is never a dull moment.

Allow me to remind our newly converted hawk-watching friends, and inform new and interested birders, that we don't man the sights on rain days. Also, be very aware of the weather! Many times, the best viewing days are due to hawks being "backed up" north of our location due to heavy rains.

 Since hawks in general, sit out the rainy weather, they tend to be anxious to move following weather that rains all day over a broad front. It is, therefore, the day following those rains that we begin to see hawks in larger numbers. Sometimes, we must wait for them to fly from where the front last backed them up, to where we are; so it can be late in the day to early on the second morning before they begin to flow through our area.  Yet some mornings, of that first day, begin with a steady stream almost immediately. We often see these masses of birds gathering into the thermals or streaming through by the dozens, and sometimes hundreds!  These are of course the most exciting Broad-wing watch days.

 But some days we sit all day and see less than a dozen, and they may be so high that we can't get an inexperienced hawk watcher on them.  In fact we can't get each other on them.  Identification of these birds is a learned skill, and can take a while sometimes.  And for me, it's a skill that needs refreshing on the details from year to year. So don't expect to be "wowed' every time you come.  There is a lot of sky, so we welcome those who have or desire to have hawk watching skills, to help us scan the large expanses of blue and white. It helps our counts to be as accurate as possible.

Come prepared, with binoculars, sunscreen, chairs, food and especially, water and appropriate clothing.  And take into consideration, there are no facilities on the property.  It takes some dedication and time. Jimmy and I are only able to commit the hours we do now, due to being retired. We fully understand the limitations others who respond may have.  But some have seen hundreds in only an hour, while others have yet to have seen a kettle.   

 Our present total number of Broadies, for all the years of counting at this site, stands at (see the stats) 49,399  birds And just think, that doesn't include all the other species that have been counted there! That number already far exceeds 50,000 raptors counted over the years!

Hamilton County migration season is already underway, and we are declaring Hawk watching season officially open!

Start Looking UP!!!!