Bill's Calendar of Days on the Hill

Bill Haley has prepared a calendar of days he expect to hawk watch, weather permitting.  He would love you to join him if you would like.  You may also arrive earlier or stay later if you like, but please keep records to share with him what you've seen when he arrives.  You may also participate by using the weather apps on your phone to give him: Wind direction, speed, barometric pressure and temps for the hour you are watching.  You, of course don't have to participate in this way, but it is an opportunity to begin to learn the additional skills hawk watchers use for collecting data. Whether just once for the experience, or because you wish to become serious with keeping your own records.

I hope many of you who have supported us during Broad-wing season, will also support him during the next two months. Here's a chart that explains which hawks you can expect to see in migration during these next two months:

  Jimmy/and or I will possibly go up some days, depending on our schedules.   If you can only be there an hour or so, he will love to have you. And if there are those of you who are wanting to continue in years to come, let him train you, during the slower days of October and November.  Not that I wish it will be slower than our BW season. LOL  Make plans now -

 

 

Here's his Calendar by email:

"Cynthia;

 

I will be manning the Soddy Mountain hawk lookout on:

 

Monday, Oct. 10 (arrive around 10:00)

Thursday, Oct. 13 (arrive after 12:00 noon)

Friday, Oct. 14 (arrive around 9:00)

Sat., Oct. 15 (arrive around 9:00)

Sun., Oct. 16 (arrive after 12:45)

Monday, Nov. 7 (arrive around 9:00)

Sat., Nov. 12 (arrive around 9:00)

Sun., Nov. 13 (arrive after 12:45)

Thurs., Nov. 17 (arrive around 9:00)

Fri., Nov. 18 (arrive around 9:00)

Sun., Nov. 20 (arrive after 12:45)

Fri, Nov. 25 (no guarantees when I’ll arrive – massive dose of tryptophan the previous day. LOL!)

 

These dates are dependent on weather conducive to hawk migration. If the weather is bad - rainy, 100% cloud cover, snowing, sleeting, below 0 - don’t expect me to be up there. Also remember - if it is cold in the lowlands, if the wind is blowing it’s guaranteed to be much colder on the lookout. Come prepared with multiple layers, head cover, gloves, scarves, and whatever you can think of to cover yourself up! The late-season name of the game is LAYERS! (Don’t say you weren’t warned.)

 

As with September hawkwatching, the best flights will follow the passage of a cold front. If I catch a good flight day in November when the Red-tails and Turkey Vultures are coming south, it could surpass the best Broad-wing day of this season.

 

Most days I plan to stay until 4 or 5pm, or later. After time changes in Nov. it’ll probably be 4:00.

 

At this point it is unclear if I’ll be able to get up there other days in Oct. and Nov. and there is always the chance I may need to make some changes. If you wish to contact me to verify dates later than Oct. 16, my cell # is (423) 326-9248.

 

Bill Haley"

 

I will make this post a featured post for reference during the season.  What a great opportunity to:

 

KEEP LOOKING UP!!!!

Cynthia