I am posting this morning for yesterday, Wednesday 9/24/14. The sun was brutal and this was one day we knew, that if we had clouds, we would be seeing birds. Sometimes we got on groups of Broad-wings that blinked in and out, even though closer than those we usually say blink. A low haze remained in the sky all day, although thin enough to not disguise strong blue skies. Tiny clouds would form and dissipate in only minutes. Occasionally, we caught steady streams of Broad-wings, often flying in single file. Small kettles we would catch during our scans would begin to stream off and just disappear. I began to understand why ancient people thought of the skies as a mystical place of another worldly nature. Vanishing birds were the way of the day.
We managed however to count 161 of them, before the intensity of it finally wore us all out. Gusts of wind began to make us concentrate more on keeping our belongings on the mountain more than keeping our binoculars up. After about an empty hour, we felt our best look at more would not be until 5 or 6 pm. So it was time to take a break.
We spotted Bald Eagles again today, as we have every day, but they, and everything else, were going North, or local....except 1 Coopers Hawk.
Hoping Sunday may produce a few clouds ahead of the expected rains Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday or Thursday may produce our last push of hawks, before Jimmy and I must call it done for regular days on the hill this year.
Notice the upper right corner where I am updating daily BW totals and Year To Date Totals as often as I am able. Today:
161 Broad-winged Hawks
1 Coopers Hawk
Year to Date Broad-wings - 2590
Just a note: our largest day ever was on September 28, 2009, with 8 short of 4000 birds in one day. It isn't too late to see them. Just need some help from the skies.
Keep Looking Up!!!!
Jimmy and Cynthia Wilkerson
Going up a little later today...maybe by 11 AM.
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