Monthly Stats/ HawkCount Charts

2017 All Wrapped Up!!!

I am posting the Hawkcount Charts all at once for each of the 4 months of the 2017 Fall Season: 

I updated the finals on the sidebars, and need to finalize  the Stat's from the Past page to include this year's numbers.

 
 

These are the Grand Totals for all the Soddy Hawk Counts:

 

FALL SEASONS
1993 - 2017

BW HAWKS
- 64,095 -
ALL RAPTORS
- 86,615 -

 

 

These are the breakdowns in order of when each raptor was first seen:

 

RAPTORS

In order 1st seen
BW 2275
OS 21
BE 21
NH 13
SS 133
AK 9
UF 1
PG 17
CH 20
ML 10
RS 6
RT 34
TV 338
NG 1
BV 29
_________
SEASON FINALS!!!
TOTAL - 2928

 

This year's totals came within 15 birds of the 2004 count, of 2943, and is 25 more than the 2013 count of 2903.  Here are the breakdowns of species and hours on those counts for comparison by numbers only. 

 

            2004      2013       2017

OS          16          10           21

BE           27           25          21

GE          2               1              0

NH          33            4            13

SS           361         50          133        

CH          67          19            20

NG           0               0             1

RS           30            8              6

BW     1997        2660         2275 

RT         154           39            34

AK            15            3               9

ML              7             0             10

PG             8             4              17       

TV            207          78          338      

BV              14            0             29

UN ID           0            2               1           

TOTAL    2943        2903       2928          

HRS           331     129.75      286.75

_____________________________________

 

My closing today will be a spiritual reference rather than a physical one but remains the same -

May you and your families always

 

KEEP LOOKIN UP!!!

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

And may you all have a super opening to the NEW YEAR!

         

 

 

Bill Looks Back

Comparison 1996 and 2017 Nov.-Dec. hawk flights -

 

Continuing my comparison of the 1996 and 2017 late season hawk flights, this post will feature November and December statistics. In my experience, late season hawk flights in southeast Tennessee depend on very cold, icy, snowy conditions to our north. These conditions make it difficult for hawks to procure food. If those conditions don’t exist during November and early December, there is no reason for large numbers of late season migrants to come as far south as Soddy Mountain. They either stay where they are as long as conditions allow, or they migrate a shorter distance, stopping well north of our hawk lookout. I find the following statistics very informative and interesting. They also point out why I grew to love the late season hawk migration. Has a warming climate, both here and in states north of us during November and December contributed to recent poor hawk flights at Soddy Mountain? During most of this period in 2017, temperatures were 10-20 F above the norm in those states north of us, with very little snow. I’ll let the numbers speak for themselves.

 

I realize my format yesterday didn’t come out well on the blog, so will use a little different format this time around. Once again, I focused only on Sharp-shinned and Red-tailed Hawks, as they are the two prominent players in the late season flights. Turkey Vultures, another late season migrant, were not included here. I have included the date, starting temperatures and SS and RT records for each year. I will start with 1996.

 

11/3/96, start temp. 37 F: SS 2, RT 30 (2 dark phase!)

11/4/96, start temp. 47 F: SS 4, RT 23

11/8/96, start temp. 40 F: SS 5, RT 15

11/9/96, start temp. 28 F: SS 3, RT 18

11/10/96, start temp. 27 F: SS 3, RT 21

11/12/96, start temp. 37 F: SS 1, RT 21

11/16/96, start temp. 31 F: SS 4, RT 31

11/17/96, start temp. 41 F: SS 5, RT 12

11/19/96, start temp. 58 F: SS 2, RT 18

11/22/96, start temp. 34 F: SS 8, RT 63

11/23/96, start temp. 34 F: SS 5, RT 24

11/24/96, start temp. 40 F: SS 12, RT 22

11/26/96, start temp. 37 F: SS 0, RT 4

11/27/96, start temp. 38 F: SS 1, RT 8

11/28/96, start temp. 40 F: SS 2, RT 25

11/29/96, start temp. 36 F: SS 0, RT 0

12/2/96, start temp. 36 F: SS 3, RT 33

12/7/96, start temp. 45 F: SS 2, RT 8

12/8/96, start temp. 32 F: SS 2, RT 4

12/9/96, start temp. 31 F: SS 1 RT 11

10/10/96, start temp. 33 F: SS 2, RT 7

 

1996 Total: SS 67, RT 398

 

1996 Nov. Dec. days starting temp. was in 20’s: 2

1996 Nov.-Dec. days starting temp. was in 30’s: 12

1996 Nov.-Dec. days starting temp. was in 40’s: 6

1996 Nov.-Dec. days starting temp. was in 50’s: 1

 

Now we’ll skip forward to the recently-completed fall 2017 statistics.

 

11/2/17, start temp. 72 F: SS 5, RT 0

11/9/17, start temp. 59 F: SS 1, RT 2

11/10/17, start temp. 48 F: SS 0, RT 2

11/11/17, start temp. 40 F: SS 1, RT 5

11/12/17, start temp. 54 F: SS 0, RT 0

11/13/17, start temp. 51 F: SS 0, RT 2

11/14/17, start temp. 50 F: SS 1, RT 4

11/16/17, start temp. 56 F: SS 0, RT 2

11/17/17, start temp. 49 F: SS 0, RT 4

11/19/17, start temp. 49 F: SS 0, RT 2

11/22/17, start temp. 52 F: SS 0, RT 2

11/23/17, start temp. 37 F: SS 0, RT 0

11/30/17, start temp. 41 F: SS 0, RT 0

 

2017 Total:  SS 8, RT 24

 

2017 Nov.-Dec. days starting temp. was in 20’s: 0

2017 Nov.-Dec. days starting temp. was in 30’s: 1

2017 Nov.-Dec. days starting temp. was in 40’s: 5

2017 Nov.-Dec. days starting temp. was in 50’s: 6

2017 Nov.-Dec. days starting temp. was in 60’s: 0

2017 Nov.-Dec. days starting temp. was in 70’s: 1

 

RED-TAILED HAWK: Numbers for the two years are drastically different, as are the starting temperatures. Note that the highest daily RT total of 2017 was 5. The season total was less than 30. On only 3 out of 21 days of coverage in 1996 did we count LESS Red-tailed Hawks than our highest 2017 total, and 4 daily totals exceeded our entire 2017 season total, one more than doubling it!  

 

SHARP-SHINNED HAWK: In 1996, Sharp-shinned Hawks were counted on 19 of 21 days, continuing into December. In 2017 they were counted on only 4 of 13 days, with the last one counted on Nov. 14.

 

Is it possible I may have missed major flight days in 2017? Yes. Is it possible we missed major flight days in 1996. Probably. You ALWAYS wonder what is coming past when you aren’t there. I didn’t have as much coverage during this period in 2017 as I would have liked. I still work and can only man the lookout when I have days off. I was there as much as I could be, and I manned the lookout by myself for this entire period. You’ll note a lot of 0 totals when I was there. If good numbers of hawks had been flying, as they did in 1996, I would have definitely  had more hours of coverage, but probably not more days.

 

I welcome any comments about these past few posts that speculate about the link between a warming climate and hawk migration. Any theories expressed here are mine alone, and a result of my 27 years of hawk watching.

 

Reporting: Bill Haley

___________________________________

 

It might also be interesting to take a look at just the last 5 years, and see the latest trend. I love that there are so many ways to look at the numbers. and wonder about how what happens this year or last will affect our environment overall.  Will Hawks loose out if they change their migration patterns?  A long study helps to provide the answers as time goes by. We must always keep asking the questions.

 

KEEP LOOKING UP!!!!!

Did Rising Temps Affect Migration This Year?

Bill compare some stats: A Discussion on the Comparison

"Recently I raised the question of how a warming climate may be affecting the hawk flight at Soddy Mountain, Tennessee, so I have decided to look at a previous year of late-season hawk records. I have data going back a number of years, and I literally at random, I chose my 1996 record book to do a comparison between that year and 2017. I realize every year is different, but the past 2-3 years the post-BW hawk flights have been quite disappointing. The contrasts are eye-opening!

 

I didn’t pay much attention to hours of coverage. Granted this year was much less than 1996. There are 3 reasons for that: 1). I have a much busier schedule now than I did then. 2). I had other counters that helped me in 1996, and there were enough hawks migrating to keep them on the lookout. In contrast, I didn’t see but one fellow hawkwatcher on one day from Oct.-Dec. this year. 3). There were numerous days when I could have stayed on the lookout much longer, but when you’ve been up there for 2-3 hours and not seen a thing, it is hard to justify spending more time gathering negative data.

 

The following stats are a comparison of October 1996 and October 2017. Since Sharp-shinned Hawks and Red-tailed Hawks are the primary migrants in Oct. I focused only on those two species. I did not count any vultures for this comparison. I will also note the starting temperature F for each day, so pay close attention to that. The dates don’t always match up, but you’ll get the picture.

 

10/4/96, start temp. 72 F: SS 2, RT 1                                         10/1/17, start temp. 69 F: 0

10/5/96, start temp. 60 F: SS 25, RT 6                                       10/6/17, start temp. 74 F: 0

10/6/96, start temp. 43 F: SS 24                                                  10/9/17: start temp. 85 F: SS 2

10/12/96, start temp. 40 F: SS 22, RT 5                                     10/10/17, start temp. 85 F: SS 1

10/13/96, start temp 45 F: SS 45, RT 1, (GE 1)                       10/12/17, start temp 65 F: SS 9, RT 1

10/18/96: start temp. 55 F: SS 13, RT 2                                     10/13/17, start temp. 58 F: SS 11

10/19/96: start temp. 35 F: SS 19, RT 1                                     10/14/17, start temp. 72 F: SS 8

10/20/96, start temp. 34 F: SS 46, RT 10                                  10/15/17, start temp. 72 F: SS 59

10/28/96, start temp. 70: SS 25, RT 1                                        10/16/17, start temp. 60 F: SS 4

10/29/17, start temp. 75: SS 10, RT 2, (NH 10)                      10/21/17, start temp. 54 F: 0

10/30/96, start temp. 77: SS 13, RT 3                                        10/22/17, start temp. 73 F: 0

                                                                                                                10/24/17, start temp. 62 F: 0

Total: 244 SS, RT 32                                                                          10/26/17, start temp. 50 F: SS 3, RT 1

                                                                                                                10/31/17, start temp. 59 F: SS 4, RT 2

 

                                                                                                                Total: 100 SS, RT 4

 

November and December 1996 vs. 2017 is even more revealing, and it’ll come soon.      

 

Reporting: Bill Haley"

Are there nests showing early activity this year?  Report them. We would love to know, without disclosing locations.  The warmth definitely had butterflies migrating later in greater numbers than I ever remember, and I know there were later nests of  many songbirds around my yard.  So did the Migratrs which usually make a shift from North to South just not move, or not move as far south this year?  How will food sources affect them if the snows are often or deep? There are lots of questions that can be asked about how the warm weather, and lack of major fronts affect the movement of The Big Buteos, Vultures etc.  We could compare the numbers in Louisiana, Texas and Florida with former years to see if fewer arrived there as well. Lots of ways to look at the stats and learn or ask questions about Hawk migration.  It's how we grow in what we know - to ask the questions and make the comparisons.  I know when I looked at Vulture movement in California, they had the earliest and yet largest movement ever.  We didn't even see that. Did fires push theirs south in spite of the weather? It would require some investigation.  Any takers, college students?  It's worth knowing the truth.

I could shorten our mantra to "Keep Looking" instead of

KEEP LOOKING UP!!!
LOL

2017 Fall Season is Called!

Final Stats and review begin.

"Bill called the season as of his last report and also sent a review of his stats for the post BW numbers. For him, the migration seemed slow, and since weather plays a vital role in the movement of many of all bird species, lack of fronts, and Northern cold or snow with so many days above normal temps...there wasn't the movement he hoped for.  Let his numbers give you a picture.

Although, this is the final report, it is not the final post this year. I still have Totals and charts to post before we wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Here's Bill's last report for 2017 -
Sunday
Dec 10, 2017

This will be the last report for the fall 2017 season. Clear blue skies this afternoon,  but no hoped-for late migrants

 

"Weather: Clouds: 0%. Wind: SSW 2-5 @ 12:30, W 8-12 @ 1:00. Temperature: 41-42F. Barometric pressure: 30.29-30.25. Humidity: 43%. Visibility: 70 K. 

Hawks - 0.

Counter: Bill Haley,  12:30-2:00.

Ten minutes before I planned to leave, two local adult Red-tails put on a show. Circling very close together, suddenly the top bird dove on its mate and they plummeted very close to the treetops on the north ridge. They immediately looped back up into the sky, where a couple of minutes later their white undersides flashed as they executed another aerial tumble. Shortly after that,  the maneuver happened for a third time! This was probably pair - bonding behavior before nesting season, which will start up a short two months from now. 

It was a reminder of how lucky I am to witness pieces of the lives of these magnificent raptors! Every hawk season contains many such treasured moments. 

Now here I am at the ending of my 27th fall hawk watching season, 25 of them at Soddy Mountain. First one was as a casual observer at Signal Point and Grays Mountain, where I was bitten by the "hawk bug". Wanting a lookout I could call my own, Bill's Rock, on Raccoon Mountain fit the bill for one year, but wasn't an optimum situation. Then I found the Soddy Mountain site, which had what I was looking for - an almost 360 degree view on a mountain bluff and unobstructed views of the Tennessee Valley to the east. As they say, "The rest is history".

Good Lord willing, I'll be back next year.

Reporting: Bill Haley"

 

________________________________

 

When Bill analyzed his data, he made these observations:

 

"I went through my October and November data and pulled out some statistics from what proved to be the poorest late season hawk flight I’ve ever experienced.

 

October -  15 days with at least some coverage, 60.00 hours total:

 

Turkey Vulture - 142

Northern Harrier – 5

Osprey – 1

Bald Eagle – 1

Sharp-shinned – 103

Cooper’s – 11

Broad-winged – 3

Red-tailed – 4

American Kestrel – 5

Merlin – 4

Peregrine Falcon – 5

 

Total raptors: 284 (4.72 / Hour)

Take away the TV, which accounted for exactly half of the raptors counted = 142 (2.36 HPH)

 

Best day by far, and my most memorable day of fall 2017, was Sunday, October 15. I’ll always remember it as the No In-Between Day, as there was almost no waiting time between hawk sightings. I didn’t arrive until after church at 12:45, and I was all by myself.  In 4.75 hours, I counted 47.5% of all raptors seen in the entire month of October! If you take out vultures and just count the hawks (74), that day accounted for over half (142) of the total hawks counted in October. That memorable day’s totals follow.

61 Turkey Vultures

2 Northern Harriers

1 Osprey

59 Sharp-shinned Hawks (possibly a 25 year daily record)

3 Cooper’s Hawks

1 Broad-winged Hawk

4 American Kestrels

3 Merlins

1 Peregrine Falcon

 

Total raptors, 10/15/17 = 135.

 

Question: Is climate change a factor? The lowest temperature I recorded on any day in October was 50 degrees F (10/26). The highest temperature recorded was 88 degrees F (10/9 and 10/10).

 

Days starting temperature was in the 50’s: 4

Days starting temperature was in the 60’s: 4

Days starting temperature was in the 70’s: 6

Days starting temperature was in the 80’s: 2

 

Temperatures to the north of Tennessee were generally 10-20 degrees F above normal, with little to no snow reported.

 

November – 14 days with at least some coverage, 38.00 hours total:

 

Turkey Vulture – 196

Black Vulture -  10

Northern Harrier – 3

Bald Eagle – 6

Sharp-shinned Hawk – 8

Northern Goshawk – 1

Red-shouldered Hawk – 4

Red-tailed Hawk – 28

Merlin – 1

 

Total raptors: 257 (6.76 / Hour)

Take away the TV and BV = 51 (1.34 HPH)

 

Again the climate change question.  Lowest temperature recorded was 37 F (11/23). Highest temperature recorded was 70 F (11/2).

 

Days starting temperature was in the 30’s: 1

Days starting temperature was in the 40’s: 5

Days starting temperature was in the 50’s: 6

Days starting temperature was in the 60’s: 1

 

Hard to believe only 28 migrant Red-tailed Hawks were counted the entire month of November, when historically their fall migration peaks in November.

 

Reporting: Bill Haley"

_____________________________________

 

Thanks for supporting us this season!

 

KEEP LOOKING UP!!!

Crossing Into December

-Some of you thought the Migration was over, LOL

Hello!

Bill found that a glitch had not sent 2 of his reports after Thanksgiving, so we are reporting them, along with his latest report from Saturday. He called this morning to say he was headed up to the watch after church services for his last day of the year.  We will put up that last report as soon as he gets it to us.  It's a cold watch this week! In the twenties at night, and not very warm during the day.  Hope the wind isn't blowing on him today.  He is hoping that the snow may have the last of a few migrants on the move during the heat of the day.

He reports that the Vultures he was seeing one of these days are locals.  It might be said that the new locals may be birds which have migrated south, and decided to not go further, but in that they are hanging around for the winter, they aren't migrants.  The same would be true of any other species which just came this far and stopped. But of those birds which have been radio tagged, those birds which only do a "shift" style migration, usually go as far as Louisiana or Florida and pass us by.  It is of course impossible to tell which is occurring unless more birds are tracked, but let it be known, if they aren't showing a migration attitude, they don't get counted! 

I have been wanting to post a note for newer hawk watchers, which explains that this time of year, there have been mating and nesting activities already underway, with some species through out the south.  Many Bald Eagles and Osprey may have eggs to hatchlings already in the nests. I saw a photo report yesterday of a nest with sizable young being fed , here in Tennessee this week.

I am not sure exactly which others that would be true of.  Just sayin'  So maybe that would be something nice to investigate in some down time.  I'll let you know what I find.  The point is, however, it is time to keep eyes open for nests and young, but be sure to keep your distance. 

There are at least 2 reasons to keep a safe watching distance:
1. It is important to not disturb the feeding patterns of parents feeding chicks.  Without proper nutrition, chicks might be sickly or even die.

2. Large birds of prey will defend the area near their nests. We personally know individual birders who have been attacked by them and slightly injured, not because they were stalking a nest, but because they accidentally got too close during other activities. 

If you don't have a lens which is powerful enough to keep a distance, take the best pic you can on a tripod or by supporting your camera against or on something, and crop it.  Now days, pixels are large enough to produce some good crops.  Better yet, make sketches of the birds features and take notes of what you observe at the nests.  We made entire notebooks of info when a combined effort led birders to keep notes on the nesting behavior of Peregrine Falcons at the Chickamauga Dam.  A lot can be learned by just knowing when and how often parents switch out feeding or nesting duties, for instance.  If nothing else, it tells the story, much better than a picture. 

Here are Bill's reports:

Oldest to newest - per Jimmy's request.  He hates reading them "backwards." LOL

Thursday
11-30-17

Spent two hours at the hawk lookout this morning. 100% clouds plus no wind, with a little misty rain thrown in at the end equals no hawks. Didn't  see a single vulture or local hawk.

Weather: Clouds: 80% when I arrived @ 9:15, 95% @ 10:00, 100% by 11:00. Wind : Calm.  Temperature : 49 F - 54 F, Barometric pressure : 30.29-30.18. Humidity: 93% - 86%. Visibility : 25K.

0 hawks.

Counter: Bill Haley,  9:15-11:15.

Reporting : Bill Haley

___________________________________

 

Friday

12-1-17

 

Weather: Clouds : 35%@ 10:30, 25% @ 12:00, 35% @ 1:00. Wind : NE 2-5, changing to E 2-5 @ 1:00. Temperature : 57 F - 64 F. Barometric pressure : 30.20 @ 10:30, slowly decreasing to 30.17 @ 1:00. Humidity: 77% - 56%. Visibility : 35K.

Raptors by hour:

10:30-11:00 - 0

11:00-12:00 - RT 1

12:00-1:00 - RS 1, RT 1

1:00-2:00 - BV 19

TOTAL RAPTORS 22 : (BV 19, RS 1, RT 2)

Cloudless Sulphur butterfly - 1

Counter: Bill Haley,  10:30-2:00

Reporting: Bill Haley

___________________________________

 

Saturday 

12-9-17

 

Weather: Clouds: 0%. Wind: NE 2-5 @ 9:15, NW 4-8 @ 10:00, changing to W 10-15 by 10:30. Temperature: 32 F @ 9:15, 35 F @ 10:00. Barometric pressure: 29.97. Humidity: 51%. Visibility: 70F.

A lot of local vultures, both BV and TV, in the area,  but no migrants. No hawks seen. Saw several groups of Sandhill Cranes, all headed west to the Sequatchie Valley to feed. They were all coming from the Hiwassee Refuge to our east.

Hawks: 0

Sandhill Cranes: 31

Eastern Bluebirds: 14 on wires @ 10:15.

Counter: Bill Haley,  9:15-10:45

Repirting: Bill Haley

_____________________________________
 

Have you noticed the number of butterflies still on the move?  Cold weather will probably set that back for a while? We'll see.

 

Nesting Raptors, and Butterflies in winter--

Now you have 2 more reasons to

 

KEEP LOOKING UP!!!