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!!!