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| Harold Birch shares hawk watching with his visitors. |
Jimmy initially thought he would not be able to go up to the hawk watch today, but after a good nap he felt like going up for the late afternoon. We genuinely didn't want to miss our special day set aside for Harold Birch. As we arrived the group had gotten on a nice kettle of BW's which began to stream across the sky. It was such a blessing to get up to see so many friends, watchers and family who came to celebrate, Victoria Fay's release into the wild, and to allow Harold the chance to release it So glad we went up. We took lots of pictures, so I will present Bill's Report and add that Tami King and her friends stayed with us after hours until 5:45, and Jimmy and I left by 6:00pm. It was still so hot, and clouds fizzled to blue skies, as winds grew still. I got on 2 BW's and watched them stream down the valley, before Tami left, but was unable to get her on them before they blinked out into some hazy blue. So we will add just 2 more birds to the report. By morning, I will post a story board of pictures, including lovely pics of the Red-tail Harold released, which decided to remain close to us in the trees.
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| Last look of the Day Victoria Fay was happy as could be in her hidden perch. |
Here's Bill's report:
Saturday
Sept 23, 2017
"It was a good day on the lookout, with great diversity and some good numbers. We had a very large crowd today, as Alix Parks, of Happinest, released a beautiful rehabbed female Red-tailed Hawk this afternoon. She was a survivor of the West Nile virus, and we wish her a long and healthy life after her release. Choosing not to take flight immediately, there were excellent photo opportunities as she perched in a pine at the edge of the bluff. Thank you for your efforts to save this beautiful hawk's life, Alix!
Even before Alix arrived we had a lot of serious hawkwatchers, all hoping for a good hawk flight. They weren't disappointed!
It was good to see the Williams brothers, Shane & Greg, from Oak Ridge. They spotted both the Peregrine and Merlin, as well as a respectable number of Broad-wings. Thanks to their sharp eyes, we got the "falcon trifecta" - American Kestrel, Merlin and Peregrine today.
Quite a few Broad-wings were spotted coming across the valley from the east this morning, and we began the day with a group of 20 birds that came in south of the lookout. The peak of BW excitement came at 2:58, when a large group of 209 birds stretched across the sky, to be followed by 82 more in the next 6 minutes. Kettles of 30 and 35 were seen later in the 3:00 hour too.
Hawk totals by the hour:
8:00-9:00: 0
9:00-10:00: 0
10:00-11:00: BW - 28
11:00-12:00: CH - 1, BW - 60
12:00-1:00: BW - 1, AK - 1
1:00-2:00: NH - 1, BW - 6, PG - 1
2:00-3:00: SS - 3, CH - 1, BW - 247, ML - 1
3:00-4:00: BW - 200
4:00-5:00: BE - 1, SS - 1, BW - 8
Northern Harrier - 1
Bald Eagle - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 4
Cooper's Hawk - 2
Broad-winged Hawk - 543
American Kestrel - 1
Merlin - 1
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Total raptors: 554
Weather stats:
Clouds: 40% @ 8:00, 60% @ 10:00, 35% @ 11:00, 25% @ 12:00, 35% @ 1:00, 40% @ 3:00.
Wind: NE most of the day, 1-5 mph.
Temperatures: 70F @ 8:00, gradually increasing during the day to 89F @ 4:00.
Barometric pressure: 30.05 @ 9:00, 30.10 @ 11:00, 30.10 @ 12:00, 30.08 @ 1:00, 30.06 @ 2:00, 30.01 for the rest of the afternoon.
Visibility: 10K, increasing to 35K.
Humidity: 86% gradually decreasing to 42%.
Counters:
Jim Rowell 8:00-5:00
Harold Birch 9:30-5:00
Roi & Debbie Shannon 10:00-5:00
Bill Haley 10:00-5:00
Bill Holt 1:00-5:00
Shane & Greg Williams 1:15-4:30
Jimmy & Cynthia Wilkerson 2:45-5:155( 6:00)
Tami King 3:15-5:00 (5:45)
Reporting: Bill Haley"
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Tami plans to definitely be up in the morning. I plan to come up by 10, and Jimmy may go if he feels like it until 1 or so. Bill plans on coming up after church, and perhaps there will be others. So there is opportunity to watch with someone for those who wish to come up and help tomorrow.
We have so enjoyed having great friends and so many new faces as well, visiting us this year. Numbers aren't record breakers, but they are good and birding is truly enjoyable.
More Eyes to the Skies to
KEEP LOOKING UP!!!
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