Hawkcount final spread sheet for 2024

This is the final tally and December's Totals for 2024 in a clip from Hawkcount.org, where we record our Data officially With the Hawk Migration Association of America. Also I put up a clip of the Rolling Totals I keep on the right side bar of the blog, (when in Computer version) that identifies the daily totals updates as we add them, always listed in order first seen. It is a great counter to help both myself and Jimmy notice errors in the count. I can double ck myself on Hawkcount, or can tell Jimmy if I catch an error from my end. In the end the numbers should always match. Thirdly, I am putting up a clip of the Grand Totals Box for this year compared to last year, which helps us further keep a double ck. Because if the totals don't add up when added to last years count there is an error somewhere. I will add this years totals to last years Grand to see if it matches with my running totals as logged in our paper record. So counts are verified 4 ways when documented.

LAST DAY OF FALL SEASON 2024

Bill reached his goal of breaking his all time high number for Migrating Turkey Vultures over our watch during the count, by one bird. !!!!!! But he did it. YAY!!!! And he officially closed the watch for this season. First the report for Thursday, where the wind blew his chair over followed by his closing words, and final report for 2024. I will post final numbers and the clip from Hawkcount soon. Congratulations Bill. Thanks for the kind words, and Thanks to Those who have helped from Day one! Have a very Merry Christmas and may all your Holiday festivities, however you celebrate, be fun and meaningful!

Zero Countables on Thursday. 20's In the Night

Soddy Mountain, TN Hawk Report Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024 Duration: 1100, -1230 = 1.5 hrs. Observer: Bill Haley Weather: 1100 clear, wind NW 5-10 mph, temp 40 F, hum 37%, baro 3019, visib 50 K. 1200 wind NW 5-15, very gusty, with some gusts above 15. Zero migrating raptors today. Northwest wind increased after 1145, with some gusts strong enough to blow over my wooden ladderback chair when I wasn't sitting down. Only birds seen were 2 local BV and 1 local TV. Strong NW or W winds typically produce poor migration results at Soddy Mountain, so I decided to call it a day at 1230. Reporting: William G. (Bill) Haley

Will Thursday Be The Last Day of the 2024 Season?

Wednesday was a day which Bill is just hanging in there to break his all time high of Turkey Vultures, But God sent him a little gift so he wouldn't be discouraged. About 1 15pm an Immature Golden Eagle flew right over his head! What a gift! I wanted to include in this post the number of times we have had Goldens reported from the hawk watch, but I don't have time to do an exact count today. However I am going to do a quick rough count from Stats from the past, and Hawk Count. It might be fairly close. Check the chart below. But let me shift to other stats: Bill only needs 8 TVs after this post to beat his all time high records of that species. He only needs 17 Raptors of any sort to get us to 108,000 for our all time count total, which I will NOT hold him to. His Golden is the first in several years. I single of any bird out of almost 2500 are high odds. It used to be of both Eagles, Golden and Bald, but thankfully Bald Eagles have recovered to a point that they are not such a scare anymore. However they remain at about 1 -1.5% or less of our yearly counts.An interesting note is that our High count of 3 Golden Eagles in 1998 occurred only 1 year following his high count of Turkey Vultures in 1997. Bill will not spend many more days on the ridge. Maybe not even one past Thursday. It isn't quite worth it. but to be so close, I hope God obliges to help with the win. LOL

Tuesday, NOvember 3 2024 - 18 TVs Will Beat Bill's All Time Record!

At the end of the day Tuesday, Bill has a TV count of 1498. With his record standing at 1515 Birds in 1997, it's been a long time since he came anywhere near that count. I can honestly say it is Bill's record, because Jimmy and I could not count into November most of the years we were manning the lead on the watch. Bill's has consistently said that the yearly totals were incomplete with out a more filled out calendar. He always says the season isn't over until he calls it, because he always wants to add these later numbers whenever possible. Before I post his report for Tuesday, however, I am going to say, we just received a call from him that has him so excited about tomorrow's count, and it doesn't involve TVs. But I'll bet he is so glad he is up there chasing TV numbers in this cold today. Stay tuned for tomorrow's report. It's a good one. Congratulations Bill for continuing to Brave the weather. God sent you a gift. Bundle up real good!!!

Very Cold, Deciding Whether to Try and Break the TV Record 12 2 24

Monday, December 2 24, Bill has sent an email, about whether to try and break his all time TV record in the cold. As he expresses, in his last 2 reports, it is very difficult. No matter how close it isn't worth frost bite, especially if the Raptors are not moving, because unlike a Christmas Count, where you get into and out of a car all day, there is no place to escape on the watch without going down to his vehicle. Here's the report for Monday:

Catching up on the Hawkcount situation

About this time of year as things are winding down, some watches have closed, and others just closed this week. Right now, on Monday morning, Dec. 2 2024, I noticed only 13 sites had reported. That number of sites reporting has been under 45 - 50 for several days, and this holiday week was under 25. Some sites were showing late reports in progress so that might change. But there was a definite trend in numbers as well across the board. Except for one report from Cape May, NJ, on Nov. 30 with 73, the only numbersover 50 raptors came from Minnesota on 2 separate sites only one day each. Numbers which are larger from Panama and CRI, ususally up in the thousands,afer ours slow, have also now slowed, with only one report from CRI being 1401 on Nov 28th. Below is a clip from Hawkcount.org with the counts as they stand in the changeover from November into December. Possibly with Soddy being only one of 13 sites still reporting in the US. Some sites only put up numbers once a week, so that might change a bit, but Bill will not be alone if he calls the counts. However, we must be reminded that snow will hamper many northern counts, and as it is continuing to snow there across the midwest from the Great Lakes south, that is not likely to change for a while. Snow is expected to dip as far south as Tennessee this week, so Hawks are not likely to fly from those areas. They will have needed to push through into the area today or in the morning to count anything. Not to say they won't get up and going here, because we won't have the snow, it is not likely anything will move in the snow to get here. Not that they can't or won't move when snow is laying on the ground and the sun has allowed their wings to dry. So it depends on how long the actual snows last and how patchy the snow is falling. But we are expected to be the only area all around us that will not get snow. So it could funnel what is able to push through. That is never a given that they go near the watch, but it sometimes gives us an advantage. Especially out over the river. Here are some clips from the Hawkcount page:(click on the clips to read them.)

KEEP LOOKING UP!!!!