The Record Is Set (50,000 BW's) & 1063 for the Day

Anyone who reads our blog knows we have been reaching out for a record to be set on our hawk watch, for fall migration stats.  Each day we have drawn nearer to a 50,000 Broad-wing mark, for all the years the watch has been manned, by volunteers who love to watch hawks.  This morning early, we reached that landmark hour!

We began the day, needing only 21 more BWs to reach the goal! We arrived, high with expectations, hoping to share the day with our friends who have helped us reach that goal.  Bill Haley who has been with us a couple of days this week, was unable to join us today. He has a bigger agenda:).  But, he called early to see where our numbers stood. Carolyn and Phil Snow helped us this week as well, on the count down. Harold Birch was able to join us again today, early. & Bill Holt came later in the day.  So we felt like our team was still a big part of our big day!

We and Harold arrived at 9:15 AM.  We had -
1  BW at 9:43
1  BW at 9:45
1  BW 9:46 and at
9:49   we had  26 BW's in one kettle - SETTING THE NEW RECORD!!!!!  at 50,008 Broad-Winged Hawks.

Today, our total count for the day was :
1063 Broad-wings
3 Sharp-Shinned Hawks
1 Coopers Hawk
________________________

This brings our total this season to:
1643 BWs to date.

Most of our hawks followed two major routes today, although some were further out than others.
The morning hawks took a western track on the other side of the ridge, which turned to a SW track that ran over the house.  The other track ran down the valley, until just before or over the lake, where large kettles streamed west, SW, and many individuals followed the Southerly track until out of sight.
It was a day to watch onsies and threesies  until they were gone, because they frequently were joined by friends. And sometimes, there were a lot of friends!!!

Large totals included kettles well over 100 Hawks each. Days like today deserve a break down of the hour by hour stats, and I may come back in later and post the hourly totals. Our largest kettle was 195 BWs at 3:59 pm.

One Bald Eagle leisurely played his way west in the distance beyond the ridge, but just didn't seem like a migrating bird to us.  These days, their white heads and tails, gleam in the sun, and we can see their bright yellow legs and bills well, making a black n white bird seem colorful.

Our local kestrel played with dragonflies until he caught one, and landed on the wires to eat it. As he drew down his head over his claws to devour his prey, I was able to see that entire top of his head is white.  It isn't supposed to be. So he must be a Luciestic  (sp?) bird.  That is a partially white bird, that is not an albino.  Many of these occur in various species, in the wild, and more are being noticed as observers become more knowledgeable.

Today was a great day! 

Blessings from Jimmy and Cynthia,

KEEP LOOKING UP!!!!

 Check out Corpus Christi's update: click the link

Jimmy's E-mail to TN Bird:

"18 Sept 2014
Soddy Mtn Hawk Watch
Hamilton Co., Tn

First thing this morning we broke our official record for
Fall Broad-winged Hawks.  At 9:49 26 distant specks became
our record kettle.  At the time that brought us up to 50,008.
50,000 didn't last long.  At the end of the day we had seen
1,063 Broad-wings.  We are now over 51,000.

A 2nd weekly summary will follow Sunday night with the totals
of all hawks we've seen so far this season."

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Just and added note: by Michael Todd, Tennessee Birding Facebook page, posted 9-18-14
Clarksville, TN sighting of a large single sighting of BW's:

"The other highlight of the day was the biggest flight of Broad-winged Hawks I've witnessed in TN. A little west of... Clarksville I noticed a nice kettle of Turkey Vultures, fairly low, about 75 birds. Noticed a few smaller specks higher in the sky as well. I was able to pull over, and what had been a few specks turned into a sky full when I really looked. The main body of Broad-wings covered probably 1/2 mile of sky, at least 650 birds involved, with some I'm pretty sure that had already passed. My camera wasn't accessible at the time, which was a bummer as this isn't a sight we see over here in the flat end of the state too often, not in that number. The last couple of days have produced several excellent Broad-winged counts in TN and KY that have been posted.

On my way home from work this morning, I had an adult Peregrine perched up in a dead snag along I-40 just west of Jackson in the Forked Deer River bottom."