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| The view this morning...Watts Bar at 45K |
Wednesday - 9/16/2015
233 Broad-wings
2 Sharp-shinned Hawks
2 Northern Harriers
Harold Birch and we arrived a little after 10, and got our hawk-watching day underway by 10:30, after getting settled and finding the morning weather stats. Our high-light for the day, other than finally seeing several kettles of BWs was a Dark Morph BW with a very dark feather pattern, under-wings and tail. Our morning totals of BW's were only 4, but in the single 12 to 1pm hour, we saw 214 as follows:
57, 38, 50 + 35, 9, 1, 2, 20, and 2. I think I got them all. For a short while they were one kettle following another, coming up from behind the ridge. All BWs winging their way into the base of the kettles. So much so, that it appeared they were taking off from the trees, and Harold and I both commented that it looked like a "lift-off."
A "lift-off," is when a number of hawks have landed the night before to rest in the treetops, and at a time when the air has warmed and is rising, in the morning, they all tend to decide to fly at the same time. We often see this when Vultures leave power structures or trees in the morning. But with Broad-wings, it is often remarkable, because there can be from dozens to hundreds.
Jimmy reminded us that, with the difficulty the hawks seemed to have in getting much height out of soaring in the kettles, and since they lost altitude quickly, they may have merely flown in low, along the ridge north of us, and had found thermals over the pavement below us...thus not technically a lift-off close to us. But they appeared to be coming in from the East at treetop level as well, so we had to wonder...Maybe it was.
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| 9 in a kettle close enough to shoot WCA |
We actually had 3 beautiful Northern Harriers. Was easy to tell the first two apart, but the second flew back to the NE, so we didn't count it. But the third, came in from the N, and continued SW in a migrating fashion...So he was counted.
Tomorrow's morning weather report appears to be a mimic of today. So it is possible there will be a positive morning tomorrow as well: Partly cloudy, Winds 1-10 from the NE. Northerly storms may be pushing hawks down to us. Jimmy hadn't planned to go...but he said the weather may change his mind.
Consider this-
The entire central part of our country is under Storm watches for the next few days. South winds..for them driving moisture into the interior. Then storms moving into Florida are also moving in a NW direction, and that front is drawing rain and bad weather in onto the coastline. The only area open for hawks to fly is along the Appalachian, into our Valley, the Sequatchie or along the NC Mountains. South winds don't bode well, but...hawks have no where else to go before the storms come in next week. If they come our way, they may be coming down the valley.... Or maybe crossing to the Sequatchie, attempting to escape being closed in for days. Let's see what happens :)
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| The Daisies and other wild flowers in the area are gorgeous. |
Was a great day, but a little too much sun in the afternoon. Clouds closed in to the East of us, but where the sun set in the SW sky, it made even our binoculars too hot. At times I could not hold them. But we stayed 'til 4:30, and toughed it out. LOL But our last hawk was at 3:50.
It is imperative that if you want to see some good numbers of Broad-wings migrating, you must:
KEEP LOOKING UP!!!
Jimmy and Cynthia Wilkerson
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