SITE DESCRIPTION

SITE DESCRIPTION:
"The Soddy Mountain hawk lookout is located in southeast Tennessee on the eastern face of Walden's Ridge (the Cumberland Escarpment) in Hamilton County, a short distance north of the town of Soddy-Daisy, TN. It lies at the eastern terminus of Jones Gap Road atop a bluff overloooking Hwy. 111 and the beautiful Tennessee River Valley to the east. The hawk lookout location is state-owned land, and there are currently no restroom or eating facilities nearby. Hawk watchers are advised to bring their own folding lawn chair, sunscreen, a hat, and drinking water, as well as binoculars and a field guide. Caution should be used at all times, especially if children are present, as there is no fence to prevent a fall off the nearby 75 foot bluff. The hawk lookout proper is level ground." *

No Shelter is available, and parking is on a level below the lookout grounds. The climb to the watch site is up a steep bank about 8' high. Other helpful tools might include an umbrella or spotting scope, although on a good day, you might not find time to use either.*

Courtesy of William G. (Bill) Haley, compiler and author of the brochure, Soddy Mountain Hawk Lookout, produced for TOS.

Red-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk
Falconer Mr. Johnson's Red-tail

Monday, September 18, 2017

Broad-wings Are Arriving...finally!

Bill sent this report.

Sorry we missed out guys. But Hurray!
Monday
Sept 18, 2017

"Blue sky. Lots of blue sky for the majority of the day. Blue sunny skies are wonderful for most people. For a hawkwatcher they are torture! There is no harder sky to locate very high-flying hawks in than a cloudless blue sky.

A hot, sunny day insures that thermals carry Broad-winged Hawks, no bigger than a crow and mostly white underneath, which makes them harder to see from the ground, to extremely high altitudes.. We got no appreciable clouds from 8:00 to 3:00 and our numbers reflect that. Clouds finally built to 45% at 3:00, but by 4:00 had dwindled to 20%.

We got four fairly low Broad-wings from 10:48 to 10:58, before the thermals really started booming. We didn't see another until Harold found 4 at 1:06, and 50 minutes later, he spotted a kettle of 14, with one more added that hour. Nothing else until the 3:00 hour, when the clouds stepped in to make things interesting. Jim spotted a kettle and after only a few seconds they all disappeared into the cloud! We never found them again. He thinks there were about 50 birds. A very large, distant kettle was found by Bill at 3:17, which held 150 birds. 13 more BW's were found in the 3:00 hour, for a total of 213. Only one more BW was found at 4:48.

Totals:
Broad-winged Hawks: 237
Sharp-shinned Hawk: (1) 11:02, (1) 2:52:  2
Cooper's Hawk: (1) 1:23: 1

Also seen: (4) Double-crested Cormorant, (2) Red-headed Woodpeckers. 

Weather stats: Clear to 45% clouds. Temperature: 8:00 - 64 , 9:00- 69 , 10:00 - 73
11:00 - 76, 12:00 - 81, 1:00 - 82, 2:00 - 84, 3:00 - 86, 4:00 - 87.
Barometric pressure: 30:10 falling gradually throughout the day to 29.98.
Humidity: 90% gradually falling to 40%.

Hopefully we'll get more clouds and more hawks tomorrow. 

Counters:
Jim Rowell 8:00-5:00
Harold Birch 8:45-5:00
Bill Haley 9:30-5:00

Reporting: Bill Haley"
___________________________
 
Those blue sky days can certainly wear you out. Seems like you have to look twice as hard to find a bird.  It's ramping up though!
 
It could certainly get lots better these next few days.
 
So go on out and help the guys to
KEEP LOOKING UP!!!
 
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