16 SHARP-SHINNED HAWKS IN ONE DAY!

Our mentor and long time hawk watching companion, Bill Haley, who discovered our watch, and trained quite a few of us to recognize the hawks we saw, was able to get up on Saturday.  The following is his report via email:

 

"Jimmy and Harold;

I’m pleased to report that hawk migration does not stop after September.

Made my first trip up to the hawk lookout on Saturday, Oct. 5 from 9:30-3:00. Huge crowd up there - me, myself and I. We ALL had a great time, and it was sure good to get back on the lookout! Since I had the place all to myself, and not knowing when I might get back up there, I decided to spend my time scanning the sky (no basket weaving) and it paid off. The first hour and a half consisted of waiting for the fog in the valley to rise past me and for at least 45 minutes, I was in the cloud and you couldn’t even see the north ridge. Things cleared some by 11:00, when the 15% clouds mostly consisted of old jet contrails. Around 2pm, some small puffy white clouds began forming, but only got to 30%. Wind started from 1-3 MPH ESE and changed during the day to 2-5 MPH SE. Temps ranged from 67-84. No batteries in the weather radio, so no baro or humididty...

Our old landmarks along the ridge don’t work much any more. Bushy oak and lone pine are gone. Not sure where T -1, T-2 and T-3 are. The dip doesn’t even look very dippy! Can’t see the S shaped driveway at all anymore. Fred and cell #1seems unchanged. I couldn’t see cell #2 most of the day. What landmarks do you use now?

Shortly after the fog went away, I spotted my first hawk of the day, a local RT with a very dark belly band. Seen at eye level, and soared nearby which was nice. During the day I saw at least 3 RT’s that I took to be local birds. At one point all 3 were soaring together.

At 11:15 over the north ridge, there was finally some excitement. I had 2 adult Bald Eagles, 3 Sharp-shins and 1 adult Red-tail in my binocular view at the same time! As far as I could tell, they all went south except the RT.

I really didn’t expect to see any Broad-wings, but the first one showed up not too long after that. It was obviously a buteo, and at first I thought RT. It had its wings set and was heading my way. As it passed overhead at medium altitude, I got a better look. I thought to myself that it was mighty light underneath for a Red-tail, with no belly band at all. I then realized it was an adult BW and was thrilled that I got to see at least one heading south this fall! It obliged me by stopping to soar overhead for a bit and giving me a good look at the black and white striped tail before heading on down the ridge. I saw two more together after that and one more lone bird for a total of 4 BW.

I was also pleasantly surprised to spot two migrating Osprey. One was seen over the north ridge and came right overhead, the other was found while scanning small puffy clouds later in the afternoon. It almost slipped past me.

I’d hoped for maybe a Peregrine or Harrier, but oh well, you can’t expect everything.

Counted four migrant Monarch butterflies. I’ve been meaning to ask – did you see many Monarchs this year? They were found in very low numbers all summer, and many people are worried about them. What were your impressions?

Final totals for the day:

BE – 2

OS – 2

SS – 16

BW – 4

Not too bad! In 5.5 hours, I saw ¼ your Osprey total and ½ your Sharp-shinned total for the entire fall.

I wish I could be up there this morning with that cool brisk wind blowing from the North!

Bill"

 

As many of you who have come up lately will recognize, he found that most of our landmarks have changed, just as we have shared to many of you.  But I guess he still found Fred in tact, and the telephone pole. LOL That and the brow, the gap and the house, the cell towers, and the scattered colored roofs down the valley are our only good landmarks any more.

 

He notes as we discussed that not too many Monarchs are being seen this year.  But to answer his question, we did see a few. But not large numbers as in years past.

 

He is so right.  Hawk migration is not over in September.  Many of our visitors this year know, that we were only able to cover the bulk of the Broad-winged Hawk season, but for our reader's sake, it is important that you note the remainder of this season could yeild some great numbers if we were able to be there to see them.  Be sure to check the charts on the "Species" tab on the right column of the page.

 

Thanks for the report, Bill, and for the extra hours covered. Hope we get up there a few more times before the season is over.

 

THINGS ARE LOOKING UP!