Well, it's Fall Migration Season for 2020. With Covid 19 limiting what we can do, our reports are not about trying to get people on the watch. But, Bill Haley has moved to a property much closer to the watch, as well as having retired from the Aquarium. He therefore has high hopes of getting up often to see the migration this year. A few days ago I shared a report from Hawk Mountain, showing a video of a large kettle of Broadwings passing over their site. It remiinded me of the skies at Hazel-Bazemore in Texas, or the posts from the Middle Americas. A lot of Hawks. I said I hoped all those didn't go north of us because of the Hurricane Sandy which came ashore to our south over Dauphin Island. Bill's response was...they didn't! Here's a post he tagged me in on Facebook: First report 2020 Wednesday, September 16 Today was my first day on the Soddy Mountain hawk lookout at the terminus of Jones Gap Road in Soddy-Daisy, TN. My 27th year of monitoring the hawk migration! As I looked out over the beautiful Tennessee River Valley, I noticed a few new scars, a few new houses, but the land itself was unchanged. It welcomed me like an old friend, and I consider it as such. We are well acquainted after 26 years. The first few hundred sweeps of the sky will become many thousands by the end of November. Hawkwatching is an extremely specialized form of bird watching. It is the art of looking far, identifying distant specks. And yes, it CAN be done! First hawk of the season was a Broad-winged Hawk that was cruising down the ridge, flapping occasionally because cloudy conditions weren't producing a lot of lift. Another nice adult bird followed a few minutes later. I was happy not to get skunked! One other single Broad-wing and a Cooper's Hawk were added in the next hour. At 4:02 I spotted a kettle of 20 Broad-wings, but more birds were gliding to join them. Ended up with 38 in that group. Not a bad start for day one! THIS BLOGSPOT HAS CHANGED IT'S FORMAT TO SOMETHING NEW WHICH MAKES IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME TO ENTER THE DATA AS I HAVE IN THE FORMER YEARS. I AM NOT SURE HOW THAT MAY WORK ON THEIR NEW FORMAT, OR IF I WILL BE ABLE TO CREATE A NEW BLOG AND PROVIDE LINKS. HOPEFULLY THIS BLOG WILL REMAIN VIEWABLE FOR THE YEARS TO COME. IF NOT, IT WILL BE LOST SADLY. IT HAS BEEN A RECORD WHICH LIKE MANY THINGS I KEPT ON FLOPPY DISKS AND VIDEO TAPES ARE OR HAVE BEEN LOST, UNLESS I CAN COME UP WITH FUNDS TO HAVE IT ALL DIGITIZED. I AM TOTALLY UNABLE TO DO A RUNNING TOTAL, OR POST THE DAILIES ON THE SIDEBARS. I AM SORRY TO REPORT THIS AND AM SORRY I AM NOT TECH SAVVY ENOUGH AT THIS TIME TO START UP IMMEDIATELY THE REPORTS ON THE NEW FORMAT. SINCERELY, CYNTHIA KEEP LOOKING UP! SIGH