Accipiter Season Is Underway
Sunday, 10/4/2015
Jimmy's report to TN-bird -
"SMHW
Hamilton Co. near Soddy Daisy, TN
After 3 days of steady rain, I was anxious to get
back up on the lookout. As I arrived at
10 AM I wasn't too sure that I hadn't made a mistake. It was 66 degrees with the wind blowing in gusts to 18 MPH and 85% cloud cover. However the skies below were washed clean and
it was possible to see Kingston team
Plant without the aid of binoculars, 60 miles away.
My first bird
was a "local" Red-tail with an almost completely full crop. I thought of my own breakfast of gravy and biscuit and began to
wonder if the hawk enjoyed his meal as much as I had. It
wasn't hard to see that it was just as full as I was! At 11:13 (2) Double-Crested Cormorants flew high up from the NW to
ESE. Even though these birds are not
countable raptors, the count day had begun.
Bill and I ended the day with a Red-shouldered Hawk perched on a thick
black bottom wire in the gap between the house and the pole, facing away from
us. In just a minute, the first hawk had
another Red-shouldered fly by and draw him away from his perch. This was an unusual sight for us, in that,
except for a local American Kestrel a few years ago, no other raptor has perched on an electric wire for us.
Todays totals:
3 Osprey6 Bald Eagles (3 Ad/3 Im)
34 Sharp-shinned Hawks
5 Cooper's Hawks
60 Broad-winged Hawks (most probably our best October BW single day count)
1 American Kestrel
*7 Peregrine Falcons (our highest single days count ever)--were they blown in from the east?
_______________________________
Year to date totals:
15 Osprey
20 Bald Eagles (14 Ad/6 Im)
13 Northern Harrier
71 Sharp-shinned Hawks
23 Cooper's Hawk
1 Red-shouldered Hawk
8123 Broad-winged Hawks
2 Red-tailed Hawks
9 American Kestrel
1 Merlin
*15 Peregrine Falcons (highest year count)
1 Unknown Buteo
2 Unknown Raptors
Recently I received an email from Shane Williams, his brother, in Lafollette, saw ~150 Broad-
winged Hawks today in four groups between 5:30 and 6:20. This still gives me hope and encouragement for tomorrow. Quite possible Broad-wing season isn't over just yet!
A big thank you to Lora & Craig McBride who came up for 3 hours this afternoon to help Bill Haley
and myself count the hawks.
Jimmy Wilkerson
Hixson, Hamilton Co., TN"
http://soddymountainhawkwatch.blogspot.com
https://www.facebook.com/Soddy-Mountain-Hawk-Watch-1608121316117914/timeline
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