OVER 8,000 BROAD-WINGS THIS SEASON!

 Jimmy's email to TN-bird:

 

"SMHW
Hamilton Co., TN

After 2 days of rain, we managed to get to the lookout today
even though the cloud cover was about 95% and the wind was
from the NW most of the day.

Most of the day we were having 1 or 2 hawks glide by at a
time.  Ruth Ann Henry spotted 2 birds about 2:50 that turned
into a kettle of 30 Broad-wings out front, followed closely
by another kettle of 76.  Had it not been for these 2 kettles
BW numbers would have been dismal.  We finished with a 165
BW's to increase our year to date total to 8063.  This is by
far our best season for Broad-winged Hawk migration in the
history of Soddy Mountain Hawk Watch.  We may still increase
this total marginally during the next few days weather per-
mitting.

Other raptors seen:
1 RT
3 NH
3 SS
1 CH
1 BE adult
1 PG
2 AK

Jimmy Wilkerson
Hixson


http://soddymountainhawkwatch.blogspot.com

https://www.facebook.com/Soddy-Mountain-Hawk-Watch-1608121316117914/timeline "

____________________________________

I wanted to add, only that, the birds we saw in singles were being pushed along by winds that had them sailing through faster than I ever remember seeing them.  They looked like something motorized, making one straight shot down the valley most of the time.  The one most memorable was the Bald Eagle. It looked like a Black mini-ball with a smaller white ball attached in front and a white ball in back.  Most unusual stance I have ever seen on an Eagle.

We count very few Red-tails this time of year, and since we have so many locals, we hesitate to count any, but after a while you sort of get to know them. The one RT we counted was on this bullet path as we saw it coming in and when we saw it going out. It stalled only long enough to regain height over us before catching that wind once again.  It was an obviously, immature bird, different than those we see daily. Hard not to count it as a migrant.

The skies also held our attention for a lot of this day.  We watched wide swaths of rain march up the valley as the strong NW winds drove the huge clouds along.  Other clouds that were strung down the valley as well allowed long lines of sun to shine between them. The result was a rainbow effect on the rainfall, as occurs when you shoot water from a hose into the air in the sun.  The rain was falling from very high, and was very dense at times, It looked like rainbow colored sheets blowing in the wind.  Ruth Ann and I were often mesmerized by the grandness of it all.  Except, she wasn't so mesmerized to keep her from picking out those hawks shooting down the valley.  I regret I didn't get on them all to help her determine what every one was, especially if they dropped to the valley floor - usually pushed by the wind.  We often lost them in the tree tops their wings were tucked so tight. Apologies to her and the count.  But without her, we would have missed several today.

Thank you Ruth Ann.  Our kettles today were only the second time she had seen good sized kettles, for as many times as she has visited us. Persistence paid off for her the last two times she has come!

I must bow out on the watch, but Jimmy and Bill, at least,  plan to spend additional days there. Broad-wings have been seen from the watch as late as Oct. 5th, I believe. And, Bill would love to see us have a good season of other later Buteos, and a good Vulture count as well. Let them know if you would like to come. And help them:

Keep Looking UP!!!

C

Why OUR Site?

As our readership increases, and newer birders come to the watch, we find there are certain questions that are asked us over and over.  Periodically, we want to educate from the basics, explaining how we count the Broad-wing Migration.  Jimmy took time to write some of that information in the following blog:

"It has occurred to me that perhaps there may be many

readers who have never been to a hawk watch site to

personally experience a kettle of Broad-winged Hawks.

Hawks, at least, Broad-wings migrate in large masses

that we commonly call kettles.  We might see them in

close or they might be far away or so high up that they

appear so small we call them specks. 

  These hawks depend upon thermals (rising columns of

heated air) for lift.  A Broad-wing can fly for many

miles and never or seldom flap their wings.  What happens

is, a single hawk or even quite a few hawks will find a

thermal and then all his brothers, sisters, cousins,

etc. will fly over to that group and began to form a

kettle.  When we spot them, if we're lucky, we can watch

the group swirling and circling from the bottom of a thermal

all the way up, until they reach the top and, it's usually really

high up in the sky at this point.  

 What has just happened is - these birds have depended on the thermal to lift

their bodies without ever flapping  their wings - not once. They

just depended on the elevator of warm air to lift them to the

top of the column.  At this time they began to fly away in

single file.  This becomes the perfect time for us to count

the hawks as they drift away.   Well, single file is a misnomer,

a very big one.  Almost always, BW’s, especially if departing

a large kettle, are flying in rows, stacked up ten rows deep -

more or less.  You can count each bird singly by scanning across the rows, often

very fast.  Especially, when they are very close.  Sometimes, the departing birds

are far enough away that all you have to do is hold a binocular in one place, as

steady as possible, and count the hawks as they pass through your field of view. 

Any seasoned hawk counter will attest, all the above is an

attempt to describe a hawk kettle under optimum conditions, and I

will readily agree.  There are so many variations it could take

someone days, and paragraphs, to describe.   A lot of other factors play an

important part as well, such as

·         Weather

·          cloud types or lack of

·          wind speed or  wind direction

·          the barometric pressure  (we take readings hourly)

·          and this list could also go on,  forever.

 A most important consideration, not already mentioned, for each lookout, is

 the actual time of the month.  We start seeing Broad-winged Hawks in Fall

migration around September 10th.  They will continue to migrate

through until the end of the month. The generally accepted "best

days" are usually from the 17th until around the 28th if you would

like to see a large kettle.  Some Broad-wings are still seen in early

October, however, the numbers are usually 20 or fewer hawks counted

per day. 

Broad-winged Hawks migrate over a very large part of the sky. Some

people report to us what they have seen from their own homes and

this helps support the statement I just made. 

SO, WHAT MAKES THE SODDY MOUNTAIN HAWK WATCH SO SPECIAL?
Again, many factors are involved and I will list a few. 

1.       Our site is orientated so that we have just over 180 degrees of

unobstructed views.  In areas where there are obstructions, we still have the benefit of seeing fairly well for all 360 degrees.

2.       We are situated at about 1400 feet, this gives us an advantage greater than if we were down in the valley where our homes are.

3.        There are ridges to our north where hawks can catch thermals and continue to fly down to where we are located.

4.       We are separated from the east to west oriented ridge to our north by a four lane highway, there is also a 75 foot rock cliff we stand just above on flat ground.  The highway helps to create thermals and the rock cliff affords upward drafts to aid in the thermal uplifts.  

Most of our hawks fly from north to south, sometimes straight up over -

head.  They also fly northeast to southwest in probably about equal

numbers.  Any raptors that fly south to north, or west to east, or any

variable there-of are considered non-migrants and therefore regarded

as "locals". 

We are near the terminus of the Appalachian Mountain Ranges.

 Hawks flying from Eastern Canada and our Eastern Northern States

migrate down the Appalachians. This would most likely attribute the most to our

benefit – regarding  where we are located!  We are the Southern-most hawk

watch, to my knowledge, located in the east, other than those down on the

Florida Coast and the Florida Keys.  However, these Florida hawk watches,

each,  special in their own regard, are not as important to the westward

movement of Broad-winged Hawks,  as our site and those north  of

us.  Primarily due to the topography.   

  I sincerely believe that BW hawks flying over Soddy Mountain Hawk
Watch make a southwesterly change in direction and begin to fly toward

the Texas Coast.  Broad-wings in particular, don't cross over large

bodies of water, such as the Gulf of Mexico.  This is another prime

factor that involves their southwestern change of direction.  As they

funnel into south Texas,  they gather over Corpus Christi where hawk

counters  count them into the thousands or hundreds of thousands,

as they continue onward to their wintering grounds around Veracruz,

Mexico, then  beyond into South America.  In the Spring, these hawks reverse

direction and fly back North, most to Canada, where they will reproduce and

start their life cycle again.  Sadly, the hawks numbers returning in the

Spring are only a small number of those which originally made the Fall

migration... 

At best, there are about 5 days left in 2015 Broad-winged Hawk Migration.

If you want to come, call us first, to make sure someone will be there.  If

you'd rather come, on your own anyway, just follow the directions on our

blog (sidebar.)  Our hawk watch originator jokingly refers to us retiring after

the September season ends.  He, as well as we, know that migration really

hasn't stopped.  But the big numbers have!  He, Bill, counts Accipiters,

i.e.  Sharp-shinned Hawks and Cooper's Hawks, all through the month of

October.  Then in November, the migration shifts to Red-tailed Hawks, Red-

shouldered Hawks and Vultures.  November is quite possibly Bill's most

favorite time of the year.  I think Bill's afraid of the hot September sun

or maybe, it's that he doesn't like to get sun burned when he forgets to

apply sunscreen, who knows? ( LOL) 

  As you are now feebly informed, why not make plans to come and spend a

day or two with us during the 2016 Fall hawk migration extravaganza." 

Jimmy & Cynthia

423-305-2766"

 

KEEP LOOKING UP!!!!

PS...Since writing this post, Jimmy has discovered a more southerly Hawk Watch site than ours.  It is in direct line with ours in the SWerly directions that we see migrating hawks take.   Dora, Alabama  (ck the map on the link)   Their numbers over the last two days were quite good.  Over 1000 today. Counters: Jackie & Carrol Dickerson

 

Summary of a Record Setting Week

Bill Holt's Pic of 80 BW's in a kettle this week

We started the day having surpassed a landmark in our total hawk-watch history, by crossing the grand total of over 60,000 BWs. Before the first BW of the day, our actual cumulative total was 60,027. Adding our steady, but relatively small count for today, of 141 BWs we now stand at an all time number of  60,168 total BW's.

Secondly, this was the first week we ever saw more in ONE WEEK than our WHOLE SEASON RECORD. As Jimmy includes in his TN-bird Report below.  We are only 105 BW's from seeing 8,000 birds this year. It's entirely possible that we might reach that figure.

Of course, if you have been reading the blogs, you know we had our first 1200 BW kettle. An amazing number for our site.  And that set a record that will be added to our BEST RECORDS page.

We are humbled by the  support of our friends and fellow hawk-watchers.  And saddened more of you weren't there to see the big numbers.  It is a year we will never forget.

This was Jimmy's TN-bird Report:
_______________________________
9/27/15
SMHW
Hamilton co., TN

Today we had 141 Broad-winged Hawks pass over the lookout. The real story
is about the incredible past week we have had! We were rained out one day
but, during the other 6 days we simply blew past records out of the water.
This week's totals surpass any whole season records we have ever had at any
time in the past. The big number for Broad-winged Hawks counted was 6,822.

Our year-to-date totals are:

7895  Broad-winged Hawks
   1  Red-shouldered Hawk
   1  Red-tailed Hawk
  12  Osprey
  34  Sharp-shinned Hawks
  16  Cooper's Hawks
   7  Peregrine Falcons
   6  American Kestrel
   1  Merlin
  13  Bald Eagles  (10 adults/3 immature)
  10  Northern Harrier

   1  unidentified Buteo
   2  unidentified raptors

We are wanting to count 10,000 + Broad-winged Hawks for the 2015 season,
however, I don't think we have enough good weather days remaining for us
to accomplish that lofty goal.  Time will tell.

Our visitors and counters for the previous week in no certain order are:
Harold Birch; Bill Haley; Bill Holt; Jim McCullough; Ginger Cass; (who
helped us get on many Ginger hawks aka Turkey Vultures) Hugh Barger;
Chuck & Lola Estes; Shane Williams; Deborah Williams; Jeffery Schaarschmidt;
Carolyn & Phil Snow; Ruth Ann Henry and Cynthia & Jimmy Wilkerson

Jimmy Wilkerson
Hixson, Hamilton co., TN
_________________________________________

http://soddymountainhawkwatch.blogspot.com

https://www.facebook.com/Soddy-Mountain-Hawk-Watch-1608121316117914/timeline

Just a few more days to -

KEEP LOOKING UP!!!!

Overcast Skies Yield Unexpected Numbers!

Bill Haley is looking into a large kettle of nearly 200 BW Hawks.

Overcast skies usually mean that no hawks are flying....except on the final push days, after a full day of rain! When the skies clear, you better be sitting there, and that is definitely what we found out today. 

I had checked the Weather Channel's report for Soddy Daisy, on the hour by hour page, and then watched through the last few hours of Radar and the future cast radar expectations, and had discovered that there would be a narrow opening for hawks for 3 to 4 hours mid-day.

As soon as I saw blue peeking from our skies in Hixson, I asked Jimmy should we go up.  He might have been a bit reluctant, but he agreed to a couple of hours, just in case.  Going up, the skies also showed signs of hawk movement, when we saw a small kettle dissolving into the lower cloud cover. I counted 17, as the upper half of it disappeared, and I wondered how many might have gone into the cloud.  In just a bit, as we climbed the steep grade on Hwy 111, I saw 2 more circling close.  Now I was afraid we had not come early enough.  What if the birds that we might see today had passed earlier. This was almost midday, after all, by now.  We don't report sightings like these, because they are not on the Hawkwatch proper, or at least at the base of the hill or could be seen from the Hawk watch, if we were there.  So I was anxious to get there, to begin counting what we could see.

A small Kettle after Bill Holt arrived.  Kinda small compared to the first one he saw as he was arriving -
185 BWs at the time.

Well, let Jimmy's report tell the rest of the story:

_____________________
9-26-15
SMHW
Hamilton co., Tn.

On 9-25-15 there was a total rain out when we experienced
showers almost all day.

On 9-26-15 we were again rained out until about 11:00.  A
few minutes later the sun appeared briefly but, it was
enough to get us moving in the direction of the lookout.

We arrived at 12:15 to 97% cloud cover but saw 2 hawks before
we got out of the car.  In the 45 minutes until 1:00 we saw
30 Broad-winged Hawks.  With that high a cloud cover percentage,
I wouldn't have given anyone a nickel for a chance of seeing 30
hawks!

The next hour the clouds changed to a more acceptable level of
60% when we spotted another 74 hawks.  That total was about 94
more hawks than I had expected to see during those 2 hours.

Then, the cloud cover changed to 85% around 2 and then to 100%
by 2:30 and guess what?  We started seeing hawks in large then
larger kettles in 100% cloud cover.  2:00 to 3:00 we saw 754
more hawks.  From 3:00 to 4:15 when we were finally rained off
the mountain we saw an additional 1048 hawks still in 100%
cloud cover!!!

I guess it just goes to show that this late in the season hawks
have an inclination to continue migration even though there was
a definite lack of thermals.  What this weather accomplish for us
was better closer in views, which we all enjoyed.

After the rain yesterday the sky was washed clean of smog and
haze and we could see the Kingston Steam Plant towers at 96K
or about 60 miles even though there was 100% clouds.  Down at
our level the wind hardly stirred but aloft the wind was blowing
many of the clouds briskly from the northeast to our southwest.
This is the most desirable favorable wind condition we could
have asked for.

Counters today: Bill Haley; Bill Holt; and Cynthia & Jimmy Wilkerson.
After today I have no predictions for tomorrow except that we expect
to be there to count what ever we see in what ever the conditions are.
I am eager to count another good days worth...(unless it's pouring or
consistent rain.)


Totals:
1906  Broad-winged Hawks
     5  Sharp-shinned Hawks
     1  Peregrine Falcon
     2  Osprey
     1  Northern Harrier
     1  Bald Eagle (imma)

Jimmy Wilkerson
Hixson, Hamilton co., Tn.
________________________________________

Another amazing day, and it all occurred in 4 hours between the rain!!!!

Come out tomorrow and help us -

KEEP LOOKING UP!!!
Jimmy and Cynthia Wilkerson

"Premier Hawk Watching Sight in Tennessee"

Bill Haley sent the following e-mail in response to our Mega-kettle report, yesterday. And he asked if we would consider posting it.  Thanks to him and others who have sent congratulations on the day.

_MEMORIES OF 1993__
How Far We've Come

"Jimmy and Cynthia;

 

I can’t tell you how happy the news of your great late-afternoon Broad-winged flight yesterday, Sept. 24, made me. I am proud of both of you. You two have certainly put in a lot of time, both on the lookout and working on the Soddy Mountain hawk watch blog. If anyone deserved to witness that spectacular flight, it was the two of you. I’m also happy Bill Holt was there to share the excitement. He has been a regular on the lookout during Broad-winged Hawk season for years and he supplied another very good pair of eyes to help you out.

 

I wish I could have spent the rest of the afternoon with you, but as has been the theme for the past several years, work duties got in the way and I couldn’t stay long. I feel extremely fortunate that as I’ve had less and less time to devote to the hawk migration, you two have stepped up and continued to man the lookout and set new records in September. With your excellent blog you’ve also succeeded in drawing a large number of folks from all over the southeast. In addition to the “old-time” core group of you two, Harold Birch, myself, Bill Holt and a few others, you have encouraged many newcomers to experience the wonders of hawk migration at Soddy Mountain.

 

I looked back through my old records and found the numbers for fall 1993, our first year at Soddy Mountain. We logged 100 hours from Aug. 22 to Dec. 19, and undoubtedly missed many great flight days. We were all working then and it was more difficult to spend long hours on the lookout. That year we had 39.25 hours up there in September and saw 974 Broad-wings. (This includes seven seen Oct. 8 and one very late bird on Oct. 11). Our big day was Sept. 28 with 623.

 

1993 was also the first time we followed the fall hawk migration season to the very end. As far as I can tell, manning a lookout for the entire fall season had never been done in Tennessee before we did it. Prior to that most efforts across Tennessee had been in September, hoping for the spectacular numbers of Broad-wing season and late-season reports were anecdotal, but spotty. Our October hours in 1993 totaled 35.25. We were there in November for 13.5 hours and even had 14 hours into December. Numbers weren’t huge, but we tallied 97 Sharp-shins, 96 Red-tails and 108 Turkey Vultures.

 

Way back then, we all saw the possibilities this new lookout with its unobstructed views of the sky and wonderful vista overlooking the Tennessee River valley, had to offer. Many years and many thousands of hawks later, Soddy Mountain has established itself as the premier hawk watching spot in Tennessee. No other lookout in our state can equal Soddy Mountain’s continuing coverage over the years.

 

Congratulations! Hawk season is not over, and I’m looking forward to many more highlights.

 

Bill Haley"

______________________________

 

Thank you Bill.

 

The next few days will be our final BW push, when Jimmy and I will back away for commitments we have made.  But Bill, and hopefully others will check in occasionally for other migrants before the season's end. This year has already been phenomenal and may prove to be even more remarkable...It is definitely the best year ever for Broad-wing counts and will set the record so high, it might not ever be broken without new eyes and new dedicated hawk watchers to carry on the counts.

 

Calling all young people who want a great hobby, and don't mind sitting around on a mountain, multiple days and could -

 

KEEP LOOKING UP!!!!

 

Jimmy and Cynthia Wilkerson

With DEEP REGRETS....

Mega Kettles

It is with the deepest regret than I must inform our precious friends who came from near and far, to spend the day to help us, in intense heat....I really must inform you, that for 23 years I have sat on the hawk watch to see what we saw tonight!!!!!

WE BROKE RECORDS AFTER YOU LEFT.....SOOOOOOO SORRY you weren't there to see it!!!!!!  

With much love, knowing how badly you would have loved to have been there, we must post the truth:  We just blew our yearly record for BW's seen OUT OF THE WATER.  Jimmy is composing a TN-bird report with the details, so I must wait and keep you in suspense.  But, OH MY< OH MY<OH MY, I can hardly wait to tell you....

Thank you so much Bill Holt for staying with us. 

This is how it happened - When the last person left, other than Bill Holt, I said to Jimmy, "You know, this feels like, and the skies look like, one of those nights when we should stay a little later - just to see what comes through.  I believe we will have a final push this evening." He agreed that he felt that way too, and Bill awaited our decision, then settled in along side us.  It wasn't long before he said, " I have a single hawk...."   The understatement of the entire hawk watch history.

And that's all I can say for now...More later.

 

JUST A HINT: What would you think if you were seeing hawks by the pole -

On both sides of the pole....from the pole to the house, tiny hawks that filled the sky completely covering the area between the upper and middle wires, stretched from before the pole, all the way to the house?  TINY Hawks filling the sky over the gap and then some.     We first saw them so far out, that all of them fit inside the tiniest cloud over the ridge, and even then it took our breath away. We had just discussed how to count a mega kettle...And the last thing we said before we started counting was, "I guess we are about to find out!"

Details updated to this page in just a little while>>>

 

From here

They moved to here...and streamed between the wires
from the pole to the trees

Here it is!!! Jimmy's Report:
"9/24/2015
SMHW
Hamilton co., Tn.

Where do I start?  Guess it better be with counters and visitors,
our sincere thanks goes out to Chuck & Lola Estes; Shane Williams
and his mom Deborah; Harold Birch; Hugh Barger; Bill Haley; Bill
Holt and Cynthia & Jimmy Wilkerson.

Shane, I missed a whole line of numbers in my early count records.
As you were leaving I told you we had seen north of 600 Broad-winged
Hawks but the near estimate was another 200 birds attributed to the
missed line, so the corrected number would have been an estimate of
800 birds.

BUT...the rest of the story.  About 4:45 everyone had left the watch
except for Bill Holt and Cynthia and me.  We got to see the remainder
of the second best hawk watch day at Soddy Mountain.  Our all time best
day was September 27, 2009 when we tallied 3992 Broad-winged Hawks.  We
also had a good representation of other hawks and eagles too.  The exact
number escapes me just now but, should have been another ~50 birds.
That day is still the record! However we counted over 3000 Broad-winged
Hawks today.

At 4:59 I believe the largest kettle we ever counted appeared to the right
of the pole.  1200 birds!  They stretched from right of the pole and almost
over to the house.  I guess this was an area of about 20 degrees high and
about 30 to 35 degrees in length.  While they were not specks they were
distant, but, hey even I saw them and was able to count by tens until I
had reached 750 birds.  A little off to the right I counted another 150
again by tens.  Then Cynthia and Bill got me on another group to the left
of the main body that was another 350 birds.  Using my fuzzy math that
equaled ~ 1250.  The three of us settled on a guestimate of 1200 birds so,
that is the official number as I recorded it.  Soon they were on another 161
birds plus another 200 that I never saw.  In seconds it seemed, we were on
another group of 500, counted by my tens.  The last "little" kettle was 120
birds at 5:25 to finish our day.  Recapping, we had 2181 birds in 26 minutes.
These birds passed in 85% cloud cover and that tiny open area was the only
part of sky left to count in.  I sincerely believe these hawks were flying
late trying to get ahead of the approaching expected rain.

While checking past records, Cynthia, saw where our best Broad-winged Hawk
yearly totals were in 2009 when we counted 5242.  Todays count puts us at a
year-to-date total of 5848 which is 606 BW's above our best year record.

CONTRAGULATIONS TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO HELPED US COUNT SO FAR THIS SEASON!!!

Todays totals:

3039  Broad-winged Hawks
   7  Sharp-shinned Hawks
   7  Cooper's Hawks
   3  American Kestrels
   1  Northern Harrier
   1  Red-tailed Hawk
   2  Unidentified Raptors
    and an immature Bald Eagle that flew north so we couldn't count it.

Jimmy Wilkerson
Hixson, Hamilton co., Tn.

http://soddymountainhawkwatch.blogspot.com

https://www.facebook.com/Soddy-Mountain-Hawk-Watch-1608121316117914/timeline"



We will be updating records and totals just after BW season, including the "BEST RECORDS" page.


Thank you, thank you, thank you...all you wonderful people with your helpful hawk watching eyes!

There are still more days to:

KEEP LOOKING UP!!!

Bill Haley's Trip to Hawk Mountain

Looking N from Lookout, most birds were from NE

Bill took a recent trip up to Hawk Mountain, a sanctuary and Hawk Lookout in Kempton, Pa.  It is famous for putting watching hawks on the map.  It is where lots of valuable contributors to the education of Hawk Watching honed their skills.  Many of us would have loved to visit there down through the years, both for the experience and for the comparison to our own watch.

It has been a dream of Bill's for some time, and this year it became possible.  He sent us some wonderful pics and has great stories of his experience there.  In many ways their watch is like ours, but in many ways it was very different.  For instance, they have great numbers of visitors, some serious hawk watchers, but many were just visiting. They have groups of students and visitors from all over the world.  We have hawk watchers from several states, and numbers of photographers who visit us.  Neither site is very glamorous, although the views are incredible at times from either site. Our hill is a tough climb some days, but theirs  - well let's allow his pictures tell the story:

(Bill's pics and captions)

Bill made friends with those sitting on the hill behind him,
which is typical for most places we go birding, where ever we go.

Just to prove I was there. LOL

Serious hawk watching face.

 

 

Owl -

 2 different Merlin made close passes at the owl, with the last bird of the day at 6:15 making 3 passes and giving us great looks! What a way to end the day!

 

Hawk Mountain North Lookout
 

 

View to east from lookout - Looking towards pinnacle and owls head.
 



Blow this up and look for the little hill on the horizon in the valley. That is Donat - their version of Fred.



How to spot ultra specks - 30 power scope contributed probably 350-400 BW that were not visible to me.

This rocky trail goes down another 100 feet from the restrooms. ..and you still have over a half mile hike back to the car. The trail doesn't get much better the last half mile either. I was up on north lookout 9:00-6:30 today. That's a long time to sit on uncomfortable rocks!

It is straight uphill from here and a good hike from there to north lookout. You don't really want to go to the bathroom much!

_____________________________

 

Thanks, so much Bill, for sharing your visit! So great to see how they watch Hawks at other watches.  Sorry about the rock seats.  We have it easy in our  chairs in comparison, and I promise never to complain again about the hills we have to climb at our watch.  It would also be nice to have an individual who could dedicate time to watching through the scope. I believe we could increase our odds at seeing those blinkers.  Maybe I should try that today.   If no wind to blow the scope over....

 

So this was how Hawk Mountain Watchers -

 

KEEP LOOKING UP!!!

Jimmy and Cynthia Wilkerson

 

Jimmy Predicted 500

Forgive the very brief post, but I am actually quite tired tonight. We had a lot of blue skies, but NE winds.  There were indications more than once that raptors flying over could not be seen, because we sometimes looked at birds that were there one instant, and we either would lose them, or find them later fading into hazes or distance.  I once looked straight up, and was amazed at how many hawks had suddenly appeared overhead. I had just looked into those skies and found nothing.  Then the sky was suddenly full. So I jumped up to show everyone where to look. I stood to lean on my stool, so I could look out beyond them to start counting, as they flew through. NO HAWKS, NONE.  As I scanned back, I was appalled that what had looked like over a hundred, maybe two, was no where. I scanned back to where I had first seen them and a whole new set of hawks was entering the airspace, but not nearly so many as I had first seen.  The larger group just vanished into the blue, and haze.  This also happened later as a kettle of hawks began streaming off into the distance, and just flew into invisibility.  But, as Jimmy says, we can only count what we can see, and forget the rest.

Jimmy stays busy, just keeping the stats.

9/23/15, Wednesday
467 Broad-wings
    2 Sharp-shinned
    1 Cooper's Hawk
    1 American Bald Eagle
    2 Northern Harriers

Watchers: Bill Haley, Harold Birch, Jimmy and Cynthia Wilkerson, Ruth Ann Henry.

Note: Ruth Ann has been with us many times over the past few years, and has never been on a day when we saw large kettles or numbers of streaming birds. It was so exciting that, just as she arrived today, over a hundred hawks were arranged over the pole for her to see.  And among them were 3 Adult Bald Eagles.  Later, we teased her to go back to her car and come back up, and on the occasion she went down after lip balm, she came back up to a repeat of hawks streaming through. LOL She then kept her binocs to the sky, until she found her very own stream of hawks and got us on them.  Congrats, Ruth Ann.  You are officially a hawk-watch veteran now!

Keep Looking UP!!!!
Jimmy and Cynthia Wilkerson

Banner Day...but A Tough One

Afternoon  skies with SSW winds  WCA

We arrived later than some mornings at about 10:45am, to blue skies.  Solid Blue.  We searched them until we were actually motion sick, both of us.  No one was able to help us today, so we knew we had to keep our eyes to the skies, but it makes me sea-sick every time my binocular view touches something stationary, like a tree, or a roof, as you search through all blue sky.  By 11am there was a thick haze, the kind where birds blink out, and I found a high, far out kettle.  I strained to see into it, but the only BWs that I could see were the ones that swung out to the front as they circled around the funnel of thermaling air.  They were getting higher and harder to see, so I counted what was coming off the top and disappearing into the blue, and down through the kettle at what I could see for sure..so out of a kettle that may have had twice to three times as many hawks, I could only count 15 for certain. Then they did the classic vanishing act and we never saw them again.  Jimmy commented that he certainly hoped our whole day wouldn't be like that.

At 11:25am, Charles Murray called to say he was viewing 25 BWs kettling over Hiwassee Refuge, in Birchwood, Tn.  We had wondered before, since we could see Birchwood from the Hawk watch, could we see hawks from there coming our way?  So, we watched for his kettle, but never saw it.  I know we could not have seen it - out that far, but if it had flown into our air space, we might have known by the count, in a reasonable amount of time, if they might be his birds.  But no such luck. I do wish more people would notify us of what they are seeing.  We'ld like to know.

Bill Haley checked in a while later and we still had seen under 50...but, boy, did that change!

No more suspense, we saw 1149 Broad-wings today!!

In the 6 hours we were there, each hourly total was like this:
             ~ 22, 10, 818, 60, 239, & 0 ~

That puts us at a YTD of 2342 BWs.

If I am not mistaken, Jimmy said we saw the 706 hawks in 44 minutes. The 239, we saw in the first 12 minutes of the 3:00 hour, all in just 10 of those minutes. Constant counting - one kettle streaming in after another. Some I had to count very quickly, before they blinked out.  At one time I was counting a large kettle and also sorting out Bald Eagles and a Peregrine Falcon. But after 3:12 we only saw 2 Sharpies.

Here's the list-

9/22/15, Tuesday:
1149 Broad-wings
       2 Sharp-shinned
       1 Coopers Hawk
       1 Osprey
       1 Peregrine Falcon
       4 Adult Bald Eagles
       1 MERLIN
       2 American Kestrels

WCA

A banner day, even though we are worn out! Primarily NE winds under 6mph, and almost everything we counted today went SSW or S.  Late in the day, the path they took changed from flying along the west over the house, to flying somewhat down the valley and or SW from there.
Barometric pressures stayed between 30.15 to 30.08 all day, dropping each hour.  Most of the Hawks were high and moved through quickly.  We often saw hawks enter the kettles from the S & E, and at many levels, rather than the majority coming in from the bottom of the kettle. They flew in from every height.  It was one of those days, when it was obvious that Broadies from all over the sky were just searching for the nearest thermal, to get on out of there.

We also have had many more Monarchs than last year. So nice to see their recovery underway. And toward evening, there were dozens of Clouded Sulphurs flying by in small groups, skipping along the tall grasses.  We only saw them because a wind change to S Westerlies, put a halt to hawks. Nothing seen after 4:31pm, I believe it was.


Before morning, I hope to put up a feature blog about Bill Haley's trip to Hawk Mountain. If not today, by Friday for certain.  Please be sure to watch for it.  You will enjoy what he has shared with us.

If you get a moment during the day, remember to-

KEEP LOOKING UP!!!!

Jimmy and Cynthia Wilkerson

Unexpected Broad-wings

Today was supposed to be the day with total cloudy skies all day...and when the sun popped through about 1:15, we were slightly unprepared. But we gathered our things quickly, and drove to the watch. When we arrived, Jimmy was still tired and not so into it, but he rallied round.  Our precious friend, Harold, called to say he was on his way as well.  And we hadn't gotten settled before the first BW lazily crossed the skies. 

Today, the Broadies were taking their time, mostly.  Small groups and singles.  Steady and on paths.  As the wind changed the paths changed, but we could see them along the same path for a while, some high and some low, even as they rambled along together.  25 entries from 11:30am to 4:00pm, when the skies closed back in and we called it a day.  And of those, 10 were single birds.

25 entries yielded 120 Broad-winged Hawks, on a no-go day.  But Broadies are NOT the only thing on the move.  I could scarcely see the hawks during one count, due to so many dragon flies and Butterflies in the air.  Thousands...indeed, sooooo much traveling food. LOL

Today's totals:

120 Broad-wings
    2 Sharp-shinned hawks
    3 Osprey
    1 Peregrine Falcon
    1 Northern Harrier
    3 Adult Bald Eagles

Lots of NE winds following a very light cold front, became a traveling day for migrating birds.

If you are inclined to come, Jimmy could use some help on Friday because I can't be there for long.

Come and Help us-
Keep Looking UP!!!!
Jimmy and Cynthia Wilkerson

746 Broad-wings Passed Through Soddy Daisy Skies

Jimmy's post to TN-bird:

"9/20/15, Sunday
SMHW
Hamilton Co., Tn.

Today we had our biggest day for Broad-winged Hawk
totals for 2015 when we tallied 746.

We also had Kaye Fiorello from the Volkswagen plant as a guest counter.
Kaye just happened to walk up on the hawk watch as we were
trying to sort out some Broad-winged specks.  Her first
time up and she got to see (178+271+14+39+80) all within
a ten minute or less time frame.  Some who have been and
sat for hours, have to be asking, WASN'T SHE LUCKY!

Year to date:
1073  Broad-winged Hawks
   1  Red-shouldered Hawk
   5  Osprey
  13  Sharp-shinned Hawks
   6  Cooper's Hawks
   1  Peregrine Falcon
   1  American Kestrel
   3  American Bald Eagles  (1 adult/2 juveniles)
   4  Northern Harriers
   1  Unidentified Buteo  (Bill's Mystery Hawk)


also of note:
*  a Golden Eagle (adult) not countable because it flew
                  the wrong direction, south to north,
                  but a good bird to see from the look-
                  out at any time!

** a Common Raven,  not a raptor, but never seen from
                    our lookout!

Counters today were Bill Haley who has just returned from a
two day visit to Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, PA.  On Friday he
was there when 1588 total raptors where recorded of which
1532 were Broad-winged Hawks.
Cynthia & Jimmy Wilkerson were also counters today.

Jimmy Wilkerson
Hixson, Hamilton Co., Tn."

Specks in the sky - notice the wings pushed forward
 

Same birds against clouds - more visible

Although he didn't break down today's stats,  we also had 2 Osprey, 2 Northern Harriers, and an American Kestrel (our first this year) to grace our skies.  And others - 6 Sharp-shinned and 2 Coopers countables - and Red-tailed, Red-shouldered, Vultures that were not.

Winds were out of the North most of the day, and the barometer dropped from 30.02 to 29.95.  We saw our big kettles, totaling 559 BWs from 3:09 to 3:49 - a 40 minute period. They were suddenly noticed,  collecting directly over head, causing us to scurry to be able to count them all.  Initially, when I turned to see them peeling off the top of the kettles, as well as to discover the many scattered about the sky, the sun just blinded me.  We had to have missed some of the early ones. But a cloud finally allowed some relief from the glare and we managed to capture them just as they were reaching a distance almost beyond seeing them.  But we, began as far out to the west as we could see and counted back to where kettles were still forming and BWs were still flying all about in a steady stream across the sky above us.  It was dramatic, and fun.  And what we've been waiting to see!! We compared numbers and were within 5 birds of what the other 2 had seen.  Pretty accurate, I'ld say.

Keep Looking Up!!!
Jimmy and Cynthia Wilkerson

Peregrine Falcon Battling the South Wind And a RAVEN!

Here's Jimmy's post to TN-bird

"9/19/15
Soddy Mountain Hawk Watch
Hamilton Co., Tn.

Several CTOS members enjoyed a field trip to Soddy Mountain.
We started at 9:00 and ended at 5:15 eastern.  Hawks were a
bit slow in the morning but picked up around 2:00.

Participants included Hugh Barber; Pete Robinson; Pete &
Marge Krampe; Bill Holt; Clay Seneker David Spicer and Cynthia
& Jimmy Wilkerson.

visitors were Ronald Wingo from Walton co., GA with his son
Josh Wingo who just happens to be a star football player at
Grundy co. High School, Tn.

We saw:
1   Osprey
46  Broad-winged Hawks
2   Sharp-shinned Hawks
1   Cooper's Hawk
1   Peregrine Falcon (juv.)
along with 34 species of other birds which would include an,
as far as I know, first for the hawk watch, COMMON RAVEN.  As
unlikely as this may seem to other skeptics, such as myself,
there were enough field marks to reasonably confirm a spot on
identification.  The bird first seen at 3:20 by Bill Holt was
in our view for about 4 minutes.  Other people to view this bird
were David Spicer and Cynthia & Jimmy Wilkerson. Seen from about
a third mile away, the bird  flew from center stage to our west.
We all observed a very black bird larger than a crow.  Bill
remarked about the way the bird was soaring along with his big
head and thick neck.  David Spicer commented about its prominent
wedged tail.  While I wanted to call it another Black Vulture, to
many things just didn't add up for a Black Vulture.  I couldn't help
but notice its wings which looked narrow like an Osprey, there were
also very long fingers, longer than a crows at its wing tips.
Cynthia said she could see its pointed beak out in front of its
large head.  This is our observation, comments will be welcomed.

Soddy Mtn is just under 1400 feet elevation and the bird was up
at least 12 to 1500 feet above us.  As an after thought, from our
location we can look east across the Tennessee River and see Big Frog
Mountain where the bird could have leisurely soared over from.

Jimmy Wilkerson
Hixson, Hamilton Co., TN"

http://soddymountainhawkwatch.blogspot.com

https://www.facebook.com/Soddy-Mountain-Hawk-Watch-1608121316117914/timeline

Once Bill Holt had spotted the Peregrine Falcon, as a tiny dot, quite a ways out,  we were sort of stumped by the fact that a bird of it's size, should be kiting.  We knew Red-tailed Hawks and American Kestrels would kite, but the bird was too small for the first and too large for the second.  As we watched intently, while it approached, we recognized the extremely sharp wings of a Peregrine Falcon.  So how could we explain what seemed to be kiting.  For reader's who may not know, kiting is when the bird floats in a stationary position in the sky, hanging like a kite.

We watched as the falcon fought the winds on high, which pushed against it, holding it in place sometimes, hindering it's forward motion, completely.  It looked as if kiting, when it was not at all.  Staying with the bird, was rewarding, as with no other migrating Peregrine I have ever seen.  And to make the situation a little more challenging, it was an immature bird, dark underneath, very dark.  Once it was close, the darkness of the bird actually made those "side-burns" stand out more than ever.  It made a long, hot day worth the stay.

Then top that off with a RAVEN!  Bill's call was something he knew, was familiar with.  Almost as soon as he realized the bird, near a Vulture at first, was not a crow..too large, and not another vulture, a little further out, making it seem smaller....but was black as any of the 3, maybe more so...He said, "that bird looks like a Raven.  Intrigued, I looked first to the head.  When I spot them over near the Ocoee, or up on Clingmans Dome, I always look at the great big head first.  Pointed, and large in comparison to the wing size, I usually know them by that feature.   Then the body/wing shape and size, had me convinced.  Jimmy always has to know it has a wedge tail, which David Spicer was able to see.  As it winged away, it seemed natural there. It was hard to think of it as an unusual bird.  It took a while for it to set in the fact that it was our first on the watch.

We even forgot about Broad-wings for a few...LOL

Hope some of you are able to join us tomorrow, Sunday.  So you can support us while we-
KEEP LOOKING UP!!!

PS Bill Haley has sent us some wonderful information that I want to share with you soon.  Can't wait for you to know his story this week.