Winds and Cold Rains!

Skunked - and Bill hates it. Oct 14 and 15 were zero migrant days. He called me just before he left the watch to talk about what was going on. We talked about the way whole areas of the mountains as far N as West VA have had areas washed away, and wondered if the Hurricane's effects had altered their paths. We talked about how raptors seemed to know when they needed to flee. We have seen evidence, by researchers, of song birds altering course for thousands of miles to avoid storms. He and I talked about weather patterns, warming, and the dip in the Jet Stream. The extremes of everything. The heights of revolving clouds and funnel that reach 60000 feet now. How long it has stayed so hot. So many things different this year. And the numbers probably lowest ever. So if other sites North see plenty, why not over our site. We believe they have been diverted by things like the jet stream, God giving them a sense of peril, and air currents designed to keep them further west, to preserve them. But Bill grows weary some days with no raptors anywhere except locals. It's about to turn cold! Into the 30's tonight. Hoping I don't lose a lot of plants. Gotta repair my green house. Here are Bill's last two days. Still important to the record. How would we know the difference if there was no one to notice?

Finally Some Clouds, and Raptors Keep Coming

October 12th and 13th, 2024 Were busy days for me. So I am going to post both days together. We add Turkey Vulture and Red-tailed Hawk for the first time this year, and one more BW . Like the BWs the Monarch Butterflies seem scarce. Here are Bill's reports:

This Time Of Year!!! Yay October!

Over the last few days we have felt the temps dropping finally from the extreme highs. We have experienced 2 Major hurricanes - Helene and Milton- both of which did so much damage to Florida, but devasted the Mountain towns in SC, TN, VA, and especially NC. The terrain I grew up loving so much, where much of my heritage is from, is now gone. Totally gone in many spots. So many people hurting with great losses of homes, family members, land, and just the necessities for life. In addition, South GA and the coasts of Florida, Ga and SC also were eaten alive by Tornados associated with Helene, which left no community in her path alone. Helene tore up entire towns, and down every country road, more trees and flooding, in 6 states. Hundreds of thousands without power for days, into weeks, and thousands with be for months. In addition, a favorite cousin passed, so I am fighting the gloom that wants so much to creep in. But there has been good. I have no family injured by the Hurricanes or tornados. None that I know of are suffering over storms. Our cousin lived to be 90, with a very good life, and he preceeds his precious wife, who may not know or remember, because she has alzheimers. And,he is safe with Jesus. In addition our precious Grandson had a birthday, and won his football game leaving his season as a quaterback at 5 and 1, losing only the game to their greatest rival, in the middle of pouring rain as Helene approached us. All in all, that was just a bit more than almost any of us can handle in just a couple of weeks. So we have made mistakes and fixed them, and as ususal I am fighting a computer which is far too full. And outdated. Yet, it remains important to me to keep a running total of our raptors migrating over one spot on this planet. As a compiled history over a quarter century that can be affirmed and researched. Will it matter in the course of historical things. No. But to us it is one of many sites wishing to put a permanancy on the strange changing ebb and flow of things that have natural patterns long ago established, before Man even was on this earth. We simply tell the story, overshadowed by other natural wonders that make the greatest changes on this earth, like huge storms. Amidst all of this, we have witnessed for the first time in my life, the beauty of Aurora Borealis in all 49 states, dipping deep into even storm ridden Florida. But due to the marvel of our modern communications, which make it possible to share these reports, I also shared with family and friends who altogether viewed the Aurora the same time I did. All were able to share their pictures, and we felt like community, and close family. It is for the sake of sharing something good and timeless. For a community who cares. For this I am thankful. Here's Bill's report:

October 10th - 2 Hours - Zip

Bill took a chance on a busy day for about 2 hours, and he saw hawks. BUT they were all locals, including the Bald Eagle. Here's the report:

No Hawks on Brief Trip Today

Wednesday, October 9, 2024 - Just to check in, a busy day elsewhere, Bill sees no migrating Hawks.

SHORT COUPLE OF HOURS

Bill was not sure he could get up yesterday, but he managed an hour or 2. Here is the report: PS I am late, my computer locked up most of the day.

Killer Day of All Blue

Monday, Oct 7 2024, was rough but not unproductive. Hi Nichole! Thank you for any time you can come. Never know when an amazing flight, or a nice close hawk will make your day. Here's Monday's report:

3 Posts Catch Up - Oct 4, 5 and 6 2024

October is fun because new species are added. October 4th - 6th is no exception. We get Northern Harrier and a maybe early Red-shouldered on a mission. BWs are still flying, and the number of Merlins is rocketing up. All 3 days are here. Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 14 birds each on Sat and Sun. Here are the reports:

Merlin! Need I say more...?

Thursday 10 3, 24.....Disappointed for Nichole and Brian that they didn't get as many birds as the day before, but hopefully they got good looks at the Merlin. I just realized I was off a day for the last week and had to go back and change it. Data wasn't wrong, just my opening day/date. With typos. Hopefully now on track. That is easy to happen when you post the next day. If I happen to put in the day wrong once, it just keeps being wrong. Uggh. Here's the report for Thursday:

Peregrine Situation Resolved

Wednesday, 10 2, 2024 was a lovely day with lots of fluffy fall clouds and a good day for Hawk Migration. Yesterday, while doing numbers, it occurred to me that we only had one Peregrine Falcon, and there was a Peregrine Falcon photographed at the Dam. Sooo, what if our counted bird was now at the Dam. Well, considering a Hurricane was one the way or had just passed we could give it some grace if it was our count bird,( which we have no way of knowing), or we could consider the possibility of a second bird which didn't fly over the watch. So, to solve the delimna, and not remove our bird, would do 2 things. 1. Peregrines are moving through in good numbers this time of year, and the counts in the Florida Keys Hawk Watch are great proof of that. Their watch is a great funneling spot. So no problems with hoping there were more Falcon's in our area this time of year. But, 2. if a second one is counted now, the question is solved. Yes there are other Peregrines passing through for us as well. So our Turesday count, solved our delimna. And we can keep our count at 2, mostly because the first bird Bill counted was seen going on through for as we could determine that it was in migration. In actuallity, even if it were to pause or stay at the Dam, and become a nester, it won't be the first time. And the bird would have come from the north, and migrated here. So no problem. There are, as you see, reasons for our count numbers, and we do consider their accuracy. So here's the great fall report:

Bill Returns to the Watch

Tuesday, Oct 1 2024, Bill returns from his trip to more BW kettles. Lot's of clouds are helping his viewing, but they threaten rain. Here's the report:

Last Day of September

Sept 30 2024, Sunday, was Bill's first day back from his trip up north. He returns to the mountain, just after the Hurricane Helene has done the most damage to our mountain towns looking North and East in history. Helene dropped more water than has ever been recorded into NC, SC, GA, and TN mountains and has left devastation and heartbreak all across the area. But for Hawkwatching, at least while Bill was gone, he didn't miss any migrating hawks, since bird migration charts from radar, showed all the migrants make a massive shift to the west of us by a lot! Numbers were still low on the 30th. I like to do a little update for the month at the end of the month, so I will include a screen shot of the Hawkcount.org excel chart of the hawks seen so far, both here and on Facebook. The report follows: