_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
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