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Athens, the Red-Shouldered Hawk
YTD Totals: (see Jimmy's post at the bottom of the page)
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We dedicate a page, to the release of rehabilitated hawks, which is always ready to view from the tab on the right sidebar: Rehab/Release. We express our thanks to Tennessee Raptor Rescue (Now Happinest Wildllife Rehabilitation and Rescue, Inc., rehabbers - Alix Parks, and Sherry Teas) whose address, with more information, can be found on the Rehab/Release page. Please consider making a donation to their amazing work. For now, enjoy some great pictures, seen here now and will also be added to the page for future reference.
First: Stats for today - 6.5 hrs
18 Broad-winged Hawks
1 Sharp-shinned Hawk
1 Cooper's Hawk
1 Adult Bald Eagle
1 Immature Bald Eagle
Watchers and Friends: Roi and Debbie Shannon, Bill Holt, Julie Doyle, Jeffrey Schaarschmidt, Clay Seneker, Gary and Pixie Lanham, Alix Parks, Sherry Teas, Adam Borchardt, Tara Clark and her son, Kallen Clark.
Roi and Debbie Shannon are members of our hawk watch team from almost the beginning, as are Bill Holt and Harlold Birch. Clay Seneker has joined us every year for a day or two as well, so we felt right at home with our crew and our TOS friends and visitors. What a great day!
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| Alix demonstrates how the hawk must be held in order to avoid those claws. |
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| She then checks flight feathers, to be sure "Athens" didn't injure himself in the transport box. |
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| Alix spred Athens' wings so we might see the diagnostic feature called "Windows" in the extremities. The lighter patch shows as a white, nearly transparent crescent on the wings outer edge. If the light makes this feature apparent looking up at a bird, it is our first clue that we are watching a Red-shouldered Hawk. |
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| Sherry Teas prepares to release Athens. |
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| Athens first wing-beats to freedom. |
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| Jimmy, Alix and Sherry discuss the possibility of releasing a recovering Broad-Winged Hawk. We may not be able to release it here, but hopefully they will bring it by. _______________________________________________________ Soddy Mtn Hawk Watch Hamilton Co., Tn Week 2 Summary The best thing about today was our many visitors and the release of a rehabbed Red-shouldered Hawk. Visitors were: Roi & Debbie Shannon; Julie Doyle; Bill Holt; Clay Seneker; Jeffery Schaarschmidt a.k.a. S-13 then we had the folks who came to see the hawk release: Rehabber Alix Parks and Sherry Teas; Gary & Pixie Lanham; Adam Borchardt; Tara Clark and her son Kallen Clark. Alix gave each person an up close look at "Athens" the rehabbed hawk. As He? was released by Sherry and began to fly away we were treated to exceptional views of the happiest and most photographed hawk we saw today. Earlier in the week we had visitors I haven't mentioned. They were Bill Haley, our mentor and Soddy Mountain Hawk Watch originator, and Phil and Carolyn Snow. Carolyn spotted a Common Nighthawk which we thought was a first sighting for SMHW but when our records were checked we found a sighting for 2 Common Nighthawks seen on our best day ever 9/27/09. Although not counted as raptor migrants it is nice to have 2 records for this species. Raptors seen today 18 Broad-winged Hawks, 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk, 1 Cooper's Hawk and 2 Bald Eagles (1 adult/1 immature.) Total numbers for week 1 and 2 follow. 2171 Broad-winged Hawks 1 Northern Harrier 14 Sharp-shinned Hawks 9 Cooper's Hawks 4 Red-shouldered Hawks...all migrants, we didn't count ATHENS 2 Red-tailed Hawks 1 Osprey 1 American Kestrel 2 Peregrine Falcons 12 Bald Eagles (7 adult/5 immature) 1 Unidentified Buteo ------- 2218 Total Year to Date Keep Looking Up! Jimmy & Cynthia Wilkerson http://soddymountainhawkwatch.blogspot.com |
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