Great Halloween Flights!

Huge numbers of Broad-wings, Swainsons Hawks and Turkey Vultures are arriving at the Southernmost Panama in the last few days.  Almost breaking their best records.  Check the record for this Halloween count for Cerro-Ancon, Panama. They counted over 890,000 birds. I noticed that a tower further inland, counted no where near this many hawks on the same day. That is how it works. Hawks pass, but not always where you are at a watch. You can miss them by as little as 3 miles easily. I have actually been  in that position  to see it happen. Driving only 3 miles W from Corpus Christi in Texas, we saw (as I have  told you before) over 20,000 more hawks than were being seen at Corpus, and that in just 20 minutes or so.  Corpus had only 1.  This was happening in the  Panama yesterday.

So, although some sites in the US report near to average/year volume,  the hawks passed somewhere in record numbers and never got counted earlier in the states.  Cerro-Ancon is the narrowest area before the hawks enter South America. The huge TV count causes me to question a bit the older thinking about how and where Turkey Vultures migrate.  We on our watch expect Turkey Vulture migration and count it as such.  We sometimes expect the TV flights to look a bit like BW movement, because they kettle and form into large social groups in much the same way. But we've only counted their migration at SMHW for a couple or so weeks (10/15/17). Yesterday, 715, 500+ of them were headed into northern South America. And that is way ahead of sites in the US getting their TV counts well underway.  We expect more to come.

 Might be interesting to watch those numbers at Cerro-Ancon in future reports this year. I am going to check the monthlies for a few western American watches, and see who was seeing the most Vultures, the earliest, and answer my curiosity, as to whether any of  the 715,000 could have come through the US earlier.  And how fast are they moving? Might do the  same for BW's.

Don't miss an opportunity to browse the other sites reporting to Hawkcount.org.  This was the one Jimmy found most interesting last evening as he entered Bill's Halloween report. BW's are now finding their way into S. America.... I didn't get a chance to  look back at what those numbers have looked like and for how long. But we get a sense of about how long it takes US BW's to get there.

Meanwhile, in Eastern Tennessee, our Soddy Mountain Hawk Watch, is experiencing the second half of 2017's fall movement.  As you know we simply don't have the man-power to keep daily reports going out to you. So each time Bill is able to find the time to do what he loves, experience the non-broad-wing flights, and show that the migration continues well into November, he wishes we could find reporters who love the cool temps and slower pace...(that could be debated, considering the no bird BW season days).  It always leaves us wondering,  what came through when...?
Bill's Halloween Day report follows:

TUESDAY
10/31/2017

"Weather: Clouds 1% @ 1:30, 5% @ 2:00, 0% @ 3:00. Wind : S 1-4 mph, changing to E SE 1-4 @ 2:00. Barometric pressure: 30.21 @ 1:30, 30.17 @ 2:00, 30.14 @ 3:00. Humidity: 44%-38%. Visibility 60K.

Raptors by hour:

1:30-2:00 - NH 1, SS 1, CH 1, RT 1

2:00-3:00 - TV 11, SS 2, RT 1

3:00-4:00 - SS 1, CH 1

Total raptors: 20

(TV 11, NH 1, SS 4, CH 2, RT 2)

I wonder what came by the lookout before I arrived at 1:30?

Counter: Bill Haley,  1:30-4:00

Reporting: Bill Haley"

 

__________________________________________________

 

Cape May reported 74 Raptors, 38 of which are Sharpies still making their way south, before noon today.

 

Finally, I want to post our October monthly totals via the Hawkcount.org chart.

 

Month Summary:Oct, 2017
		Black Vulture	Turkey Vulture	Osprey	Bald Eagle	Northern Harrier	Sharp-shinned Hawk	Cooper's Hawk	Northern Goshawk	Red-shouldered Hawk	Broad-winged Hawk	Red-tailed Hawk	Rough-legged Hawk	Golden Eagle	American Kestrel	Merlin	Peregrine Falcon	Unknown Accipiter	Unknown Buteo	Unknown Falcon	Unknown Eagle	Unknown Raptor
Date	ObsHrs	BV	TV	OS	BE	NH	SS	CH	NG	RS	BW	RT	RL	GE	AK	ML	PG	UA	UB	UF	UE	UR	TOTAL
2017-10-01	3.75										1												1
2017-10-06	1.5							1															1
2017-10-07	0																						0
2017-10-08	0																						0
2017-10-09	3						2										1						3
2017-10-10	1.5						1									1	1						3
2017-10-11	4.75						2	1															3
2017-10-12	6.5						9	2			1	1			1								14
2017-10-13	7					1	11										1						13
2017-10-14	4.75						8										1						9
2017-10-15	4.75		61	1		2	59	3			1				4	3	1						135
2017-10-16	8		8				4																12
2017-10-20	7																						0
2017-10-21	4.25							1															1
2017-10-22	2.75		62		1																		63
Date	ObsHrs	BV	TV	OS	BE	NH	SS	CH	NG	RS	BW	RT	RL	GE	AK	ML	PG	UA	UB	UF	UE	UR	TOTAL
2017-10-24	2																						0
2017-10-26	1.75					1	3	1				1											6
2017-10-31	2.5		11			1	4	2				2											20
Total: Oct 2017	65.75hours	0	142	1	1	5	103	11	0	0	3	4	0	0	5	4	5	0	0	0	0	0	284
Total: Fall 2017	242.25hours	0	142	21	15	10	125	20	0	1	2275	4	0	0	9	9	17	0	0	1	0	0	2649

 

Notice the total Fall counts and hours etc. also appear on the chart.

 

Might need to change the way this chart is posted depending on how it views.  If it doesn't work, I'll edit the post to a screen shot pic.  But this might be more readable.

 

Thanks to all who keep up with our reports. The side bar info doesn't appear on the phone site for our Blog, so I plan to put up the records shown there at the 2017 final.  Hope I remember.

 

Not sure too many hours will be covered in Nov/Dec. but I am not disappointed with our numbers this year.  Couldn't be, since we couldn't help much, but even so, I am just proud that there is a 25th year...even if Bill stops the watch all together.  The numbers this year bring a quarter century of value to the effort.

 

But any where we go, we will never forget to

 

KEEP LOOKING UP!!!!