October Already, Needing Rain

Bill has continued to brave the Blue skies, with a slight repreave from the heat. Thursday opened a new month. And Bill's favorite time to hawk watch. He likes the variety of hawks species far better than the masses of BWs. Time to check each bird out. To watch it's behavoir, flight habit, wing positions, and learn it's silouette. He did much of that years ago. But each year we would all renew our license to judge by studying each bird as closely as the flight would allow. There is always room to learn.........Great to see Beth Barron up for a second trip. Hope she was able to see another species or two. Always welcome! Here's the report for the first day of October 26'.

Peregrin Falcon Makes an Appearance

The BW numbers will slow now. Large numbers moved South early this year according to many watchers. The Nor'Easter which went up the eastern coast pushed them a little west of us. Holly Taylor up in Putnam Co. TN around Clarkville reported a huge push of BWs, showing videos online of a pure river of BWs migrating by them a few days ago. I mentioned it looked like being in Corpus Christi. While Corpus Christi racked up 80.000 plus 2 days in a row. There are no shortages of BW hawks. They just have not made a huge showing over Soddy Mountain while Bill was able to be there. Thankfully, he's had a steady stream of help and visitors, and that is very motivating, and fun. And he's had enough hawks to help people get to see them. Even with some variety. Today's count is pretty much a good example. And just seeing the hawks, and getting to know them is often better than a thousand BWs. Here's the report:

Clear Blue All Day!

Monday September 28, 26 Jimmy and I were on the deck, while Blake was replacing more of the boards - sawing. talking. and just all around making noise, when Jimmy asked about a small bird in the trees. Before we knew it, there were a couple dozen, and every one seemed to be a small warbler, at first. We had a little fall out of great species and turned our eyes skyward to ck for hawks. And the first thing Jimmy said was, I would not be on the Lookout today. The skies were so blue they seemed solid. So this report was pulled out of the near impossible:

Mystery Bird in Tami's Message

Sunday, Sept 27 26. I love that Tami included a mystery bird in her message and report today. We sometimes record them as Unidentified, but Tami lost the bird in the sun, as will often happen. We can't know if it was a migrant. But it warrants discussion. Because, it is not always easy to ID even the common Hawks as opposed to something we would love to record, that is not so common. With Red-tailed hawks, there are also some features that make them unique. Examples woulld be, Light and Dark Morphs, Harlans and Leucistic birds...and other titles given to certain looks of Red-tails,which are not typical - with a red tail. Another factor, for identification of all hawks, is that a juvenile bird can look quite a bit different than an adult. So since this Mystery Bird caught a long-time counter's attention, I know it was worth checking out. After this report I am putting up some pictures I gleaned from online to represent 3 hawk species which can be misidentified pretty easily when they are not in the expected plumage of an Adult version........... It takes a long look sometimes to find the features you need to make an ID. That is exactly what Tami was trying to do when her hawk didn't present with common ID features. She was going down a checklist of things that could help ID a unique bird, and as she did that, nothing was coming up difinitive. Then the bird flew into the sun, and her check list was interrupted before she could ck it all out. When that happens, it leaves you with a sense of wanting to have seen more. It sticks with you for a few days. Ask me how I know. There are things that given time, would have identified her bird. But they might not be the first things you look at..... Distant birds sometimes require a silouette ID. Knowing wingshape, tail length, and relative size in comparison to something else. This is true between 3 specific Hawks. And Tami was on the trail to Identifying any one of the 3.( I added the 3rd to the discussion, not her, for discussions sake.) Although after the fact, we would probably rule out at last one, based on it being a Western Hawk, stranger things have happened than seeing a bird out of it's expected range. But she rightly focused on 2...... Noting features that could occur mostly in one or the other, but in morphs or juveniles can occur in both, or either or. Gets complicated. And notice, in her message, she said "spots on the legs like..." Guess what. The bird with the most dominant spotted legs in light morph is the western bird. LOL So, she was trying to gather evidence, if you will. The 3 hawks are Red-tailed, Rough-legged, and Ferrouginous. I looked through dozens of online photos and kept seeing articles of how these 3 were most like one of the others as a similiar species. ...................Here is a quote from one of our posts many years ago, where I searched for the instances we have seen the Rough-legged Hawk: "But the one thing I haven't mentioned at all are the unique individuals that we have seen.(# 8) In all these years we have only managed to count 3 Mississippi Kites, 1 Northern Goshawk, and 1 Rough-legged Hawk. The rarest of our species. But there have only been 61 Merlins, and 18 Golden Eagles. I didn't get to see the NG or the RL, and am not sure I could have ID'd them at the time." Now, Numbers for Merlins and Golden Eagles may have changed since then. But the other 2, not so much. I didn't have time to actually search for an actual update; Bill would probably know off the top of his head. But Rough-legged would have been pretty cool for Tami and Bill..... Years ago, there was one that stayed around for the winter on the other side of the mountains in the Sequatchie Valley. Like with kites, things are seen over there, we wish would come over to our valley. So it was also not unreasonable for Tami to ck out a hawk that wasn't common looking. I really hate she didn't have a little more time. But even then sometimes, you just can't be sure. Thanks for bringing me back to the watch, with memories of trying to ID a hawk but, only walking away with visions of it in my head. LOL Here's her message and her count sheet, followed by 4 hawk pics to review, that if I saw these backlit by sun, I am sure I would struggle to pick out the Rough-legged for certain.

Light Morph RT Aug 28 25 Echo Oregon by Mark Ludwick of Pacific NW Birding on FACEBOOK .........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Light Morph Rough-Legged Hawk from FACEBOOK New England Wildlife ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Juvenile RT from Birdfact.com, articles on RT Hawks .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Ferrufinous Hawk from All About Birds....................... Notice the banding on the tail, which Tami described, is missing on THIS bird. I could not find an instance where a feruginous had banding on it's tail. However they have a very reddish upper tail in many cases, which when backlit by sun looks just like a lighter colored adult RT. The exceptionally long wings, and no bands on the tail...Not her bird, no possibility for a rare Western fluke. Not that she considered it. Just noting, how to rule the rare one out definitively. One final note. I have seen Red-tails almost completely devoid of the checkerboard banding on their underwings, shown in these 2 RT pictures, and the one at the top of our page. Some RTs are so white underneath you wonder if they are leucistic. Which we have seen. But it has to be noted, that at least 1 completely Albino looking RT has been reported on several occasions by people up on Jones Gap RD. Reputable birders have tagged me in pics, or mentioned them on FACEBOOK and I saw it. If the is a local, and has nested, there could be some very Feruginous looking RTs up there. If they happen to migrate over the watch, it might be a little confusing unless the counters are aware! Happy Birding to all. KEEP LOOKING UP!!! Jimmy and Cynthia

Largest Number of Hawks and Count Visitors

September 26,'26 Saturday As far as regular count days, not events, there were the most visitors to the watch Saturday yet this year. Tami was able to be there too to help with the count. Thank YOU! But we always say, more eyes to the skies, and our visitors were able to pick out or point out the hawks, as well. Welcome to all! Barb and Tim Baldwin, Aaron Thomas, Jasper Kaloi, Mina Claire, Emerson Smith, Casey Burks. Thanks for coming! What a lovely report. So glad everyone got to experience seeing hawks in numbers. Great Job everyone. Here's the report (Merlin was the new spcies for the day):

Friday With Visitors And Hawks To See!

Friday 9 25 26 - After vieving a post from Holly Taylor, showing floods of Hawks pouring into Tennessee in Putnum County, I was definitely hopeful that Bill and friends would have soome good looks. There was a Nor'Easter off the East Coast this week, which flooded some of the hawk watch towns like Cape May. That kind of storm pushes large masses of birds to inland Migratory opportunities. Having folks up in Putnam County get to experience so many, was exciting to see. It honestly looked like a day at Corpus Christi, TX from her video. She zoomed in and out to give some perspective of what size clouds and how close the birds were respectively. It was awesome to have them close enough to capture on what appeared to be her phone?? But it was a great capture at any rate. Jimmy did a little research and found that up there is a state area, where Holly has reported from recently to another records keeping source, other than HMA. That was back on Sept 18th, I think he said. Boy am I being ambiguous. I am just trying to relay that he ckd it out to see if they were another hawk watch like ours. But that location, near Cookville, could have great numbers I am sure. Anyway it was a great indicator which raised my hopes for Bill and his guests to see hawks. And they did! So glad to see our long time friend Susan Schott up, and she brought her friend Kym Martin. Hello and welcome to her. But the visitors who were the most unlikely, were brought in by Iron Man Chattanooga, occuring on Sunday. So Happy to have Boise Idaho residents Toni and Lenore Holthuijzen! Thanks for making the Hawk watch one of your destinations! Soooo happy there were hawks for you to see: Here's the Report: (in 2 parts)

Late in the Day On a Thursday...

Sept 24, 26 Thursday. Bill sent a note earlier that indicated after 2 attempts he had to leave the watch due to rain. So initially, he expected to go up tomorrow. But the rain broke about 4 and he chanced a late flight. Not a bad move. Wish he had had a flood, as has happened. But alas, We will take what he got. NOt a bad day after all. Here's the report: