"They camped the first night on the edge of the swamp that filled the middle areas between Mt. Coeur and Nazareth, and in the morning one of the guards wakened the sleepers with the cry, ' The storks are rising!' The pilgrims rushed to view one of the memorable sights of Galilee: five storks from a large flock that had been resting near the swamp during their migration north had found a current of hot air rising from the land, and these five had already entered it, and were being carried speedily aloft without using their wings at all. Their huge black bodies were canted upward and their white wings were extended motionless to their fullest extent, so that the rising air swept them aloft in wide spirals. Their pink bills were thrust straight forward and their long reddish legs trailed after them like rudders.
`Those storks remaining on the ground understood from the manner in which their fellows soared into the air that an upward current had been found, and with awkward, lumbering jumps they loped across the meadows and projected themselves, wings outspread, into the column of rising air, allowing it to loft them far into the sky toward those highest currents along which they would migrate to Europe. When Volkmar and his son hurried into the morning sunlight they could see a mysterious pillar of more than a hundred storks, apparently motionless yet rising upward, one above the other, until the topmost ones were lost in the sky, and Volkmar quoted from Jeremiah, who had once watched these birds rising over the Galilee: 'Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times.'
'It's an omen for us,' one of the knights avowed, for as the birds soared aloft, wings and necks and legs extended, they formed a series of supernatural crosses reaching from earth to heaven.
'An omen of good!' other warriors echoed, and all bared their heads and crossed themselves, but Volkmar, watching the topmost storks start flapping their giant wings as they left the rising current , said to himself: No omen, but a warning. They are flying to Germany and soon they will nest in the chimneys of Gretz. The storks had been sent to warn Volkmar and his family to leave the Galilee and go back to Germany. For many days his thoughts would be tormented by that column of majestic crosses motionless in the sky."
James A. Michener's THE SOURCE, in paperback, a Fawcett Crest Book, Fawcett Publications, Inc., Greenwich, Connecticut, pg. 712 of Ch. The Fires Of Ma Coeur. 1965
(hopefully I have retyped it correctly.)
We expect to watch once again from Soddy Hawk Watch, the Raptors, on their Southern migration, which take advantage of the rising air currents much as in the paragraphs of Michener's best selling novel, for the next few weeks. And it has always been for us a majestic sight, especially when the birds are able to rise without effort as the rising air of thermals lift them ever upward, until they "peel" off the top of the swirling currents at new and greater heights than when they first enter from below. Sometimes they will rise hundreds of feet, scarcely moving a wing. Especially when it is Bald Eagles, whose large wings make the best use of lift from rising air, cutting through the invisible mass like a plane, seemingly held aloft like a miracle. We have become accustomed to such things as planes rising and not falling from the air, and thus we ignore a bit the amazing physics and science that holds great birds at such heights, that they can not be seen with the naked eye. In fact we scarcely would know migrants were there, except that the size of Vultures and Eagles makes them more easily seen, or because of the mere size of the kettles of hawks that rise into the columns of thermaling air, makes seeing them possible, a phenomenon that never ceases to amaze.
We have often talked here about the passing of weather fronts- Hawks are most often seen before or especially, after a weather front. The front which passed through on Saturday night was not the kind of "rain all day" front that backs up hawks, but it was the kind of front that cooled the air, and changed the direction of the wind, and brings the barometric pressures into a range which alerts raptors to be on the move. We had worked all day Saturday, Jimmy and I, clearing the watch site and beginning a tent style toilet location, clearing away poison ivy and cutting grasses, and cutting back the pines along the bank. We were exhausted. We decided we absolutely had to rest Sunday in spite of knowing there would probably be passing hawks after the front. The first real numbers of the season.
We even said to one another, Maybe Bill or someone will get up after church and send a report. And so they did! Here is that report - THE OPENING REPORT OF FALL 2016: (Thank you, Bill!)
Jimmy;
After church yesterday I decided to go up and spend some time on the lookout. Since there had been a front come through during the night, I was hopeful something would show up. Good news is that it did. I was there from 12:45 to 5:15. Also had some visitors: Larry and Susan Bowers (friends of Ruth Ann Henry), from Estill Springs, TN, came up for their first time ever. They were there from about 2:00-3:15. Clay Seneker also came up and was there from 2:00-3:50.
Following is the weather info and my sightings for Sept. 11, 2016:
12:45: temp. 80, humidity 68%, baro. 30.17, clouds 65%, visib. 50K, wind NNE 3-5
1:00: temp. 82, hum. 52%, baro. 30.16
2:00: temp. 83, hum. 45%, baro. 30.14, clouds 50%
3:00: temp. 85, hum. 42%, baro. 30.12, clouds 45%
4:00: temp. 86, hum. 39%, baro. 30.09, wind E 2-5
Broad-winged Hawk (1) 12:58, (7) 1:05, (1) 1:45, (1) 3:50, (1) 3:59, (1) 4:15, (1) 4:30, (1) 4:57 (all following normal flight path SW, except for one going more N-S.)
- Actions of Broadwings at 3:50 and 3:59 suggested they were probably catching dragonflies. They were still quite high, so the dragonflies themselves could not be seen. This behavior was typical of what we sometimes see in the late afternoon.
- I was quite surprised to find a group of 7 BW at 1:05, and hoped I’d see more, but all the rest were singles.
Bald Eagle (imm.) (1) 2:07 straight north-south flight path. Watched it all the way south.
Total: Broad-wing 14, Bald Eagle 1
Also seen: (3) Red-tailed Hawks (locals – one immature seen several times).
(1) Cooper’s Hawk – flying wrong direction (local).
(2) Monarch butterflies, both very high, heading south.
I may get up there sometime during this week, but am definitely planning on spending time up there Sept. 17-23.
Reporting: Bill Haley
Please spread the word about the Double release of rehabbed Broad-wing Hawks, on Saturday morning, September 17, at 10:00. Sherry and Alix will answer questions, and give us a good brief education on the work needed to help these birds, and features unique to their age; as well as providing great ops of picture taking. Click here for a link to the info: Double Release of Broad-wing Hawks
Check the sidebar for our page on previously released hawks. And Alix Parks work. We will be putting up info on Sherry's work as well. Rehab/Release
Jimmy and I will be up on Watch formally on Thursday, Sept 15th.
Join us if you can, and come prepared to
KEEP LOOKING UP!!!!!
Jimmy and Cynthia Wilkerson
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