Not Much Time - No Hawks In That Time

October 24, 25 Bill didn't have much time and will also be away tomorrow. NO hawks to report for the time he had. He also gave us a notification of a few days off for next week. He deserves to get away to a couple of other things. Here's his email for Friday:

A Couple of Short Days in Late October

Oct 22 and 23, 2025 Bill's time is limited the last week of October, allowing for only a couple of hours here and there. I will post these two short posts, one of which gives his off days coming up. WE are adding only 2 hawks - a Sharpie and a Red-Tailed. Here are the reports:

Before The Storm Some Good Hawks

October 21, 2025 It went from sunny to storm in a jiffy in the early afternoon here in the valley. Bill was the recipient of those heavy rains a bit later than us. So it shut down the watch. But there were some great viewings prior to the storm I suppose the hawks were trying to get ahead of it? On a side note, I heard a YouTube birder say today that the there were more Merlins this year than The Kings Troops, or something to that nature. It's true. Merlins are in force, but where are the American Kestrals. Well according to him, there were still tons of Kestrals and Peregrin Falcons hunting over the Rivers and Marshes in Canada. Staying a little too warm and allowing for good eats up there this year. Here's the report:

Adding the Red-tailed Hawk for the First Time This Season

October 20, 2025 Nearing the end of the month and it's time to add the Red-tailed Hawk. And one came through with a migratory mind, so Bill could count it. LOL It flew South or SW from beginning to end, is what that means. Here's the report:

Looking Back to the Same Dates in 2018

By accident, I landed on the posts for this week when a random search in our search bar for Bald Eagle put me precisely on the same date as I was posting. Maybe an accident for me, but search is probably set up that way? But I just had to post it. It will probably run all together since the Blog changed a couple of years ago and I missed the deadline. I hope it is still readable: Soddy Mountain hawk totals Thurs., Oct. 18, 2018 Coverage (all times EST): 0800 - 1515 = 7.25 hrs. Counter: Bill Haley Helper: Ian Riley Weather: Clouds (thin Cirrus) 40% @ 0800, decreasing to 20% @ 0900, and gradually to 10% @ 1200. At 1300 clouds were 20%, but they were all behind us. Some clouds began forming in front of us @1400, 25%. By 1500 they were thicker "mackerel clouds" at 75%. Wind was N all day 5-15 mph. Temperature ranged from 53 F - 65 F. Barometric pressure started 30.40, was 30.43 from 1000-1200, then went down to 30.37 by 1500. Humidity 59% - 44%. Visibility was an excellent 70 K all day. Hawks: (all times EST) 0800: SS 2 0900: TV 31, SS 1 1000: 0 1100: SS 3, RS 1 1200: OS 1, SS 2, CH 1 1300: TV 7 1400: NH 1, SS 1 Raptor totals: 10/18/18 Turkey Vulture 38 Osprey 1 Northern Harrier 1 Sharp-shinned 9 Cooper's 1 Red-shouldered 1 _______________ Total Raptors = 51 Other sightings: Blue Jay 43 Monarch butterfly 5 I welcomed Ian Riley to the lookout for his first visit today. He has very sharp eyes and found several birds I would have missed. It was good to have his help and I will look forward to seeing him up there again. I shared some ID pointers and filled him in on the origins and history of the sport of hawkwatching. He first heard of hawkwatching when he stopped at a birding site while on a trip in Michigan and learned there was also a hawk watch nearby. This made him curious to see if there were any in Tennessee, and that's how he found us. Thanks again for the help today, Ian! You are welcome any time, and maybe the hawks will be flying better next time. Got a first large group of 31 migrant Turkey Vultures, with a later group of 7. Hope to see many more in the next few days. A late Osprey and Northern Harrier were nice too. Reporting: William G. Haley, Jr" The new numbers are up on Hawkcount.org. Jimmy had a few minutes to catch them up. Compare our numbers with other sites, and I challenge you to find out our Eagle total for the year while you are there. Turkey Vultures are beginning to move. Their numbers could really set this year's totals on a high note if someone is there to see them. Bill continues to watch through this week end. Thank you Ian! Hope you will continue to KEEP LOOKING UP!!! Posted by Soddy Mountain Hawk Watch at 8:48 PM

Saturday's Post and Sunday's Note

October 18 and 19, 2025 - Saturday and Sunday. We were preparing for the cold front the weekend brought in. Lots of rain. But Bill pulled out a few raptors just before it hit. Although it did not rain later on Sunday, winds were still pretty bad, and weather directions just weren't good for flights. Plus it was a bit much if you were unprepared for it on the hill, as a human. Bill decided to call it a day on Sunday. I'll put up both posts, Saturday first followed by Sunday:

First Golden Eagle of the Year! Oct. 17, 25

October 17, 2025 Friday: This is one of Bill's favorite kinds of days. Topped of with a Golden Eagle in the noon hour. Great looks too. YAY Here's the report:

Bill Found a Couple of Hours to Ck out the Watch

October 16, 2025 -Some days you just feel like the blue skies will have you skunked, but you go anyway just to see. This was probably how Bill felt yesterday. Not a cloud around down here in the valley. I did, however, see a lift off of Black Vultures about 9:30 from an area where they normally don't spend the night, as my daughter and I were going shopping. But even if I did suppose they were on the move. just due to that location, I wouldn't consider them migrating on that day without much closer observation. It's not often Black Vultures are counted until later in November, maybe. But on this clear blue sky day, Bill didn't get to count anything! It's OK. We have sat all day in the past years, occasionally, and not seen a single hawk.

If You Have a Couple of Hours, Copy Bill

Oct 15, 25 Wednesday. If you have a couple of hours, do what we always close the blog with - KEEP LOOKING UP! Only this time of year when you are looking at a few Turkey Vultures, take a few, minutes to determine if they are on a path to move in a SWesterly direction. If you can, watch til they get out of sight. Did they thermal a couple of times? Did they get pretty high in the sky. Did they just keep moving SW, or WEST. Did they come from pretty far in the North and just keep moving the whole time in about the same direction. Did they remain together in a group? Well, if they did all that. They probably are migrating South for the Winter. So make your self a migration book, and jot a note with the numbers. the time, the weather and the date. But be sure to make yourself a few notes of what you saw, and answer all the "dids" in your notes. Here's how we do it: (minus the notes - those are for your memories.)

2701 is the Count after Today!

October 14 25 - Tuesday. The Turkey Vultures from yesterday shoved Bill right up to within 2 birds of the 2700 mark. So even though he didn't get but 3 Sharpies today, he still crossed into the 700s. 2701 after todays report:

The Turkey Vulture Count Begins

October 13, 25 - Monday. Bill said he definitely had migrating Turkey Vultures, but just couldn't get on any accipiters. With his BW numbers this year, a good number of TVs and later adding in Red shouldered and Red Tails...He might have a significant count this season. But some say the hawks have left out of the North early. Has it affected our flyway? Looking forward to a great BIG HAWK count for a month or so. He's the report:

Accipiters and Blue Sky Nearing Mid October

October 11, 2025, Saturday *** I am going to catch up two reports in this post. I somehow missed the Oct 11th report. And feel like I lost a day to discover it. Oh well, life gets in the way sometimes. First - Saturdays report, Followed immediately by Sunday's report for October 12th, 2025:

Do You Get Excited To See Them Or NOT

October 10, 2025 Welcome to Kim Tyler, who is returning this year once she found us. Yay! Well, I can just imagine seeing what otherwise would be exciting birds for most poeple to see generally, and just getting frustrated when so many are going North instead of in Migration MODE. Yes we do vet the birds we see, for Migratory behavoir. I have listed on here before the indications we consider when counting the birds we believe to be actually migrating. It is a thing that some of the Northern hawks will come this far south and spend the winter with us. Eagles have been known to fly off our ridges about 7am in unbelievable numbers- 15 to 20 on counts designated specifically for making that a known truth. So do you take numbers off the count because you see several of a species fly North. NOPE. Because there were always those "local" hawks here and possibly nesting etc. since the first of the year in some cases, as with Eagles. There are at least as many locals as Bill counted, but couldn't put on the migration count on any given day. It is only unusual that he saw so many of them on this day traveling north. If you are there to see hawks, how exciting! If you are there to count the ones going Southwest, not so much. LOL Here's the count for Friday!

Our Visitors Make The Day Brighter!

Oct 9, 2025 Thursday - Welcome and thank you for coming to the watch, Teri and Doug Shiels. Seasoned Hawk watchers themselves, how I would love to be up there and be able to hear the stories from their watch! The morning clouds became a few too many yesterday before the day was over. Never-the-less, Sharpies keep pouring through. We never claim to be the watch with great huge numbers, just a steady count of what a watcher can see. And there is only one Bill. More eyes to the skies is always a hope daily. It's sunny this morning in the valley. It's time for a bit more variety. Is anything up north pushing them our way. We'll see. Here's Thursday's report:

WEDNESDAY AFTER THE RAINS - LOTS OF BLUE SKIES

OCTOBER 8 2025 - Wednesday was a great opportunity for Hawks to fly high. Even Bill's report said the last 2 birds were quite high. This morning I see lots of scattered clouds. As we've said so many times before through out the years, clouds make the high birds easier to see. Bill was hoping for some backed up hawks, waiting further north, to pass over his position. Depends on their flight path, but at least there is a great opportunity to see a nice variety of hawks, but not so much in kettles from here on out this season.

Tuesday Was Rain Which We Needed - Sharpies Keep Coming

Tuesday Oct 7, 2025 Sharpies are one of the Raptors which don't always mind getting their wings wet. I have seen them in fairly heavy rain zipping down the valley. The problem isn't with them flying. It is with the rain making it nearly impossible to see them.

Rains Are Settling In For a Few Days

Monday October 6th. Bill is driving up any time the rains/clouds clear a bit. His reward is a few hawks each time dart through and can be seen beneath the clouds. Nice Monarch count.

Day 5 of October Has Sharpies on the Move

Oct 5 2025 Bill said 3 of his Sharpies were so high he had to take a second look. That's a thing! Here's the report:

Hawks Being Attacked By Smaller Birds???

October 4, 2025 - Saturday. Yes, it's true, even the smallest of birds harrass, dive on, land on and attack Raptors passing through their local space. And even local hawks will harrass migrating hawks to say, this is my territory, move on. Bill doesn't have Sunday morning coverage. He'll be up after church. Here's Saturday's post:

Cormorants Stole the Show Friday.

October 3,2025 Bill's report lets us know, that there are other bird flocks interesting to be seen from the watch as well as hawks. Here's the report:

Hours Count Too!

Oct 2 2025. Sometimes you get zero hawks for the time you have to spend, But hours do count. They, along with weather data, the watchers and many more things go into the records. But you never know. Sometimes 1 hour is when a thousand raptors flow through. Today, the zero.

October Brings a New Guest

Oct 1, 2025 Kim Tyler. Would have loved seeing you. Sorry about the numbers. Please come again. Here's the first day of October's report:

LAST DAY OF SEPTEMBER 2025

Sept 30 2025 Bill says he picked out singles of BWs all day. Here's the report:

Hawks Came to a Screeching Halt...

Sept 29, 25 That's the way it goes. A couple days of rain, hawks backed up suddenly show up. Then they all rush through at once. It's OK.he'll take a slow day. Bill did have to leave early anyway. You see what you are able to see. Corpus Christi in Texas says the hawks are non stop down there. The best runs they've had in 5 years. The temps haven't been scorching here, so the hawks don't tend to get as high, so high in the blue you could never see them. And they didn't dodge our site this year. So we can be thankful. It's been a great way to start a season. And God knows a body gets tired after 3 days of hard work. LOL Here's Monday's report:

Amazing Numbers Once Again Grace Our Watch

Sept 28, 25 Thank you Tami King for your faithfulness each year! It paid off this year once again. So glad you were there to reap THE REWARDS! Blue skies worried me a little in the morning. I was concerned there would be a slow follow up day. But I told Jimmy, it is starting to cloud up a bit here in the valley. Maybe they are getting some aftenoon puff clouds to help them see a few kettles. And they DID!!! Here's the report:

What A Blessing 831 Raptors

Saturday Sept 27,25 Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Tami and Nicole. Bill could not have done that alone. I've been up there on days when the kettles were popping up every where. You need more eyes to the skies! So excited that Nicole could get a great opportunity to be there at the right time. Great job guys. Hope you have good clouds today.

The Great Push After the Rains

September 26, 2025 Friday. Jimmy and I spent a little time counting from our deck since it was a surefire day Friday. After 2 days of rain, and listening to a local Red-shouldered Hawk scream at every passing bird all day, I knew I had to eek out some time yard watching for Hawks. Not officially numbers for the Soddy Count, because this is Hixson after all, it was still fun, and a great indicator to us that Bill was having a great day. Jimmy has scarring on his eye from the shingles, so the light hurts, and he was unable to look for long periods of time. But he did get on several hawks. Our count was from 3:30 to 4:30 and our results were: 3:30 to 4 - 1 RS, 1 BW,low; 4:00 - 57 BW, 1 BE, 1 RS, 1 CH, and 5 BV. All migrated on except the RS and the BVs, of course. 4- 4:15 2 BV, 6 BW and hundreds of dragon flies and damselflies etc. Never saw so many at once. There were more than a dozen butterflies, most were Monarcs.Jimmy then saw from 4:15 to 4:30 - 2 BE (3rd yr), 8 BW and Vultures popping in and out. Last of the day was a TV. It was fun while it lasted but I had supper to fix. I ran out a few times to scan while things cooked, but the TV was the last bird passing in sky where we could see them. Winds had changed too, and were quite brisk out of the NE. Fun...BUT not as fun as BILL's whole day!!!! Here's his report. With his NH we are actually up to 8 species now. He had 7 for the day, but we also have American Kestral, which he did not get one of yesterday. The variety was insane yesterday. That makes the day fun:

Added A Kestral

Sept 25, 25 - Thursday. We have resolved the Sharpies count, so here is the great count day for the week so far:

First Nice Numbers of BW's

Sept 25, 25, Thursday. We are not posting the report just yet, until Bill gets a chance to take a look and clarify the Sharpies count. But I am going to post about it, because it is a great example of how we do double cks through out the count season, so that we can offer the numbers that can be compared at the end of the season and feel good about it. Bill is primarily the counter these days. So what he reports is what we put up as the count. (This may include numbers from other trusted counters.) But a typo, or a missed transfer from his handwritten records, to an email could make the end count be different. Even in the end, he has sometimes put up his totals from his book, page totals as his count. But as for the reported count, official to the Hawk Migration Association, it will match his emails. Jimmy is able to go back and alter if Bill can ID the difference of one or 2 birds over a season, but it's much too difficult to do. So we try to catch errors day by day. Today, the body of the hourlies say one thing for Sharpies and the Total line says another number. So before entering that into all these posts and Hawkcount.org, we will ask Bill what numbers he wishes to report. If we just make a correction, it might be wrong, and in this case, if he missed the sharpie in the hourlies, it definitely would be. Each month, I compare my running numbers to the hawkcount numbers to make sure Jimmy and I are on the same page. Only once have I found him wrong in all these years. But I have researched my numbers several times and corrected. Keeping a running total up to date is a little more difficult, especiallydoing it by hand in a journal. Hawkcount is in Excel. I don't use Excel, since I would never find my errors because I am not fluent in Excel. The running count is not as important daily on the blog, but needs to match up for me several times a month to keep our yearlies correct. It is easy to verify against Hawkcount's Excel running totals. More BWs were seen yesterday against the clouds and today's weather looks like there might be nice conditions too. Hoping Bill has a great day. Keep Looking UP!!!

The Rain Has Squelched 2 Counts in a Row.

Sept 24, 25 Does that mean there's some wet hawks waiting to fly this morning, a day later? We'll see if they fly over the watch. LOL PS. Count numbers verified equal to Hawkcount.org numbers, Jimmy has entered. Here's Bill's Short Report:

When the Rain Stopped...

Sept 23 25 3 Plus hours of sunny skies:

Adding a Merlin to the Count!

Bill had a nice count day, but a rainy one. Today's rain will possible have the watch socked in all day. Jimmy and I have had some Hawks passing in the evening low over the house going NE to SW. But they were likely looking for landing spots in our local trees for the night. If it weren't raining, I might have looked for a liftoff this morning. We felt we had 2 dark BW's back to back really low. But here is Bill's count.

Tami Is So Appreciated

Tami covers on Sunday mornings. We appreciate you so much! Putting up the first kettle of much size. Yay! Here are their Sunday numbers:

Tami King Never Forgets Us!!

Sept 20 2025 Report - Tami King never forgets our first weekend. So excited she could come visit again. Thank you, Tami.

September 19th 2025

Thursday Sept 18 No Mirgrants

9 18 25 In Clear Blue Skies, Hawks are too high to see or ID. After about 2 hours midday. when birds are highest, Bill decided it was not a good idea to stay, as he said on his Facebook post. So he went home and painted birds against the Clouds, like he had seen the day before. We've decided that after 32 years, the 33rd yr would be a little more relaxed and reasonable. We are getting too old to suffer at this. LOL Good luck tomorrow. Bill sent a post script that he forgot to send the picture of his visitor for the day. Our Watch friend from the very beginning, Mr. Jim Rowell, just caught Bill before he left because of the blue skies. Jim is a long time hawk watcher, and has maintained a steady record for all the years he has watched from his home sites. For years he watched off his back porch, and then from thier new home he has spend hours keeping count after his retirement. His reocords are non-published (I believe), but are one of the only long term record for a single site in our area that I am aware of, like ours. This year, Jim has had about 50 BWs over his location. His wife who is now retired has joined him since she has retired and they spend lovely days counting from thier home. YAY. Jimmy always wanted to be up on the mountain doing that from a home. Great to see you up here. Thanks for dropping by to let us know how you are. And keep us updated on your counts! So good to hear from you.

Keep Looking UP!!!

Species Picked Up Quickly Sept 17

Wednesday Sept 17 brought a quick jump in species seen and good variety. Here's Bill's report:

Day 2 of Fall 2025

Tuesday 9 16, 2025 We were on the road to and from Nashville, Tuesday. Meanwhile, Bill is wracking up hawks. A good day for early watch. Ramping up to the 20th which has always been the greatest week for us historically. Many have said the snows up north have sent the BWs early. Will they come our way, Bill says is the real question. Hope he get to see plenty every thime he gets up there! Here's Tuesday's email : Soddy Mountain, TN Hawkwatch Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025 Observer: William (Bill) Haley Duration: 1230-1630 = 4.0 hrs. Weather: 1230 wind SE 2-5, clouds 75%, temp 79 F, hum 53%, baro 30.16, visib 20K. 1400 wind S 2-5, clouds 90%, baro 30.13. 1500 temp 78 F, clouds 50%, hum 59%. 1600 temp 83 F, baro 30.07. Raptors by the hour: 1230-1300 - 0 1300-1400 - OS 1 1400-1500 - SS 1, BW 5 1500-1600 - BW 1 1600-1630 - 0 Total Raptors: OS 1, SS 1, BW 6 = 8 Other sightings (locals, not countable): RT 2 (ad.) local RS 1 (ad.) local BV 19 local, (kettle of 15 seen @ 1548, and again @ 1620) TV 15 local Hummingbirds 5 Monarch 9 Cloudless Sulphur 7 Dragonflies: I didn't do a formal count, but there were many (estimated 250-300+) large unidentified darners, and a couple species I could identify - Black Saddlebags and a few Wandering Gliders going past the lookout. I got to the lookout @ 0930, and it was completely overcast. I decided to go back home, take a load of lumber out of my pickup to make room for my lawnmower, then drove back up and mowed the overgrown lookout. As luck would have it, the clouds started to clear as I loaded the mower back on the truck at 1230. The first bird of the day, an Osprey, sailed directly overhead fairly low @ 1302. I looked for hawks until 1630. Reporting: William (Bill) Haley It is time to KEEP LOOKING UP!!!

2025 Season Begins - Moonday Sept 15, 2025

Monday, 9 15 25 Bill officially opened the Soddy Hawk Watch this season, Fall of 2025. Our first official bird was of course a Broad Wing! Here's the email he sent: Soddy Mountain, TN Hawkwatch Monday, Sept. 15, 2025 Observer: William (Bill) Haley Duration: 1030-1330 = 3.0 hrs. Weather: 1030 clouds 50%, wind S 3 mph, temp 75 F, hum 69%, baro 30.14, visib 40K. 1200 clouds 40%, temp 80 F, hum 65, baro 30.13. 1300 temp 83F, hum 51%, baro 30.12 Raptors by the hour: 1030-1100 - 0 1100-1200 - BW 1 1200-1330 - 0 Total raptors: BW 1 = 1 Other sightings: RT 2 (ad.) Local birds Hummingbird 2 Monarch 2 Cloudless Sulphur 4 Reporting, William (Bill) Haley This was my first chance to go to the lookout this fall. It'll be my 33rd fall season. Only one adult BW today, but at least I didn't get skunked! (You've gotta start somewhere.) Always remember to KEEP LOOKING UP!!!