TOS MEMBERS VISIT OUR SITE

Before I get into today's post, I have an announcement from Gary Lanham, that we are so excited about!!!
"Sherry Teas plans to release a red-shouldered hawk rehabbed by Alix Parks tomorrow (Sunday, 9/20) at the Hawk Watch site on Soddy Mountain.
Directions to site:
Take US 27 ("Corridor J") North from Chattanooga.
Just past Soddy Daisy, go left on TN 111 toward Dunlap.
Take the Jones Gap Road exit and turn left (South) on Jones Gap Road (the first exit after reaching the top of the mountain).
Go 2 miles and turn left to stay on Jones Gap (going straight puts you on Burchard Road).
Go to the end of the road (about 2 blocks), park, and climb an 8-foot hill to the hawk watch site overlooking the bluff (east side of road).
Anyone interested is welcome.

Good Birding!
Gary Lanham"

The scheduled time for Release is is 2:00 pm. Bring your cameras for great closeup shots of a marvelous bird!  Please come in support of their work, if you are able!
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Today was a scheduled TOS field trip for The Chattanooga Chapter, but we had visitors from several areas!  I am so bummed that I missed seeing Roi And Debbie Shannon, our long time Hawk Watch compadres. Today I was forced to stay home from getting too much sun yesterday.  I was dehydrated and a little sun-sick, in need of some time off from the binoculars.  Yesterday afternoon, I had begun to have eye strain, and a little confusion, and woke up today unable to meet the task for the day. So after some rest, I am gearing up for a great day tomorrow!

Thanks to all the fellow birders who braved a clear blue sky with Jimmy today.  After days of good flights, they had the first day when hawks were just not visible.  We have often queried whether they are flying and we can't see them, or they just are flying in an area where a few clouds and better weather conditions channel them into easier flying patterns.  But whatever the case, today was a low count day :(  But our good friend Ken Dubke always said, "Negative data is good data, too."

Today's totals were:
35  Broad-winged Hawks
  2 Sharp-shinned Hawks
   1 Red-shouldered Hawk
   1 Red-tailed Hawk

With Roi and Debbie on the deck, I know nothing viewable was missed this afternoon!  Just sorry for our visitors who were not rewarded with mega kettles. LOL

Welcome, and hope you come again:
Bill and Barbara Allen, Bob Bethel, Jennifer Rydell, Clay Seneker, Roi and Debbie Shannon, and the Lamb Family- John, Cyndy, Patrick, & Samuel.

Appreciate your support!

Jimmy and Cynthia Wilkerson


KEEP LOOKIING UP!!!

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Check out our "SPECIES KEY" page for the raptor abbreviations key, and a "Raptor Migration Schedule" chart. which gives general times to expect certain species to migrate past us.

Visitors from Around the State

475 Broad-wings today!!! Year to date, total BWs: 2118

Jimmy's e-mail to TN bird will be my post this evening, because I am just plain tired.  But before I post it, I wanted to send virtual hugs to our visitors from bird clubs around the state.  Amazing day with friends, cannot say how much you boosted our spirits.  We were dreading a blue sky day, but you not only were amazing company, you were great hawk watching partners!!!

We were short 1 bird of 475 BW's at days end, and everyone, said we need to find one more....And they did! LOL Without these extra eyes, and great birders at that, Jimmy and I would not have pulled this total out of those skies.  Thank you all, so much for coming.

"19, Sept 2014
Soddy Mtn Hawk Watch

On the ride up to the lookout this morning Cynthia and I both
were feeling drained.  The 100% blue skies were not much of a
morale booster either.  We had decided that if the hawks didn't
cooperate we might leave for home early.

As we pulled up someone was already in the parking lot.  Here
was the boost we needed, in fact many people showed up through
out the day and hawk watching was fun...THANKS to all who visited
us.  Arriving before us was Richard & Tarcila Fox with their
"wonder pup", Claire from Goodletsville.  Later in the morning
came Chuck & Lola Estes from Oakridge followed by their friend,
Shane Williams from Knoxville, Bill Holt from Hixson and at the
end of the day Kent Dubois from Signal Mountain.

We saw 475 Broad-winged Hawks with 414 of them seen between 2 and
3pm...(after the clouds decided to show up.) Also seen were 3 Sharp-
shinned Hawks, 3 Cooper's Hawks 1 Adult Bald Eagle and a Peregrine
Falcon that was seen by Richard & Tarcila and Cynthia.

Jimmy & Cynthia Wilkerson
Keep Looking Up!!!!"

The kettles today appeared and disappeared, in and out of hazes both across the valley and high above us.  Several times, Hawks could be found in more than one area of the sky and at different levels at the same time.  Some close, along with many specks, very high.  Challenging to count, but our watchers were so cooperative with separating one from the other.  I was so secure at the end of the day with our count!

 Several who came made the observation that if there were more clouds in vital areas of the sky today, they believed that tiny hawks above us would have been seen and counted.  The watchers today understood completely, that when hawks disappear into blue skies with haze, while you are watching them, there are probably some there that we just couldn't see.

The Record Is Set (50,000 BW's) & 1063 for the Day

Anyone who reads our blog knows we have been reaching out for a record to be set on our hawk watch, for fall migration stats.  Each day we have drawn nearer to a 50,000 Broad-wing mark, for all the years the watch has been manned, by volunteers who love to watch hawks.  This morning early, we reached that landmark hour!

We began the day, needing only 21 more BWs to reach the goal! We arrived, high with expectations, hoping to share the day with our friends who have helped us reach that goal.  Bill Haley who has been with us a couple of days this week, was unable to join us today. He has a bigger agenda:).  But, he called early to see where our numbers stood. Carolyn and Phil Snow helped us this week as well, on the count down. Harold Birch was able to join us again today, early. & Bill Holt came later in the day.  So we felt like our team was still a big part of our big day!

We and Harold arrived at 9:15 AM.  We had -
1  BW at 9:43
1  BW at 9:45
1  BW 9:46 and at
9:49   we had  26 BW's in one kettle - SETTING THE NEW RECORD!!!!!  at 50,008 Broad-Winged Hawks.

Today, our total count for the day was :
1063 Broad-wings
3 Sharp-Shinned Hawks
1 Coopers Hawk
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This brings our total this season to:
1643 BWs to date.

Most of our hawks followed two major routes today, although some were further out than others.
The morning hawks took a western track on the other side of the ridge, which turned to a SW track that ran over the house.  The other track ran down the valley, until just before or over the lake, where large kettles streamed west, SW, and many individuals followed the Southerly track until out of sight.
It was a day to watch onsies and threesies  until they were gone, because they frequently were joined by friends. And sometimes, there were a lot of friends!!!

Large totals included kettles well over 100 Hawks each. Days like today deserve a break down of the hour by hour stats, and I may come back in later and post the hourly totals. Our largest kettle was 195 BWs at 3:59 pm.

One Bald Eagle leisurely played his way west in the distance beyond the ridge, but just didn't seem like a migrating bird to us.  These days, their white heads and tails, gleam in the sun, and we can see their bright yellow legs and bills well, making a black n white bird seem colorful.

Our local kestrel played with dragonflies until he caught one, and landed on the wires to eat it. As he drew down his head over his claws to devour his prey, I was able to see that entire top of his head is white.  It isn't supposed to be. So he must be a Luciestic  (sp?) bird.  That is a partially white bird, that is not an albino.  Many of these occur in various species, in the wild, and more are being noticed as observers become more knowledgeable.

Today was a great day! 

Blessings from Jimmy and Cynthia,

KEEP LOOKING UP!!!!

 Check out Corpus Christi's update: click the link

Jimmy's E-mail to TN Bird:

"18 Sept 2014
Soddy Mtn Hawk Watch
Hamilton Co., Tn

First thing this morning we broke our official record for
Fall Broad-winged Hawks.  At 9:49 26 distant specks became
our record kettle.  At the time that brought us up to 50,008.
50,000 didn't last long.  At the end of the day we had seen
1,063 Broad-wings.  We are now over 51,000.

A 2nd weekly summary will follow Sunday night with the totals
of all hawks we've seen so far this season."

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Just and added note: by Michael Todd, Tennessee Birding Facebook page, posted 9-18-14
Clarksville, TN sighting of a large single sighting of BW's:

"The other highlight of the day was the biggest flight of Broad-winged Hawks I've witnessed in TN. A little west of... Clarksville I noticed a nice kettle of Turkey Vultures, fairly low, about 75 birds. Noticed a few smaller specks higher in the sky as well. I was able to pull over, and what had been a few specks turned into a sky full when I really looked. The main body of Broad-wings covered probably 1/2 mile of sky, at least 650 birds involved, with some I'm pretty sure that had already passed. My camera wasn't accessible at the time, which was a bummer as this isn't a sight we see over here in the flat end of the state too often, not in that number. The last couple of days have produced several excellent Broad-winged counts in TN and KY that have been posted.

On my way home from work this morning, I had an adult Peregrine perched up in a dead snag along I-40 just west of Jackson in the Forked Deer River bottom."

Tomorrow WILL BE Our Record Setting Day!!!

We are 21 birds away from having recorded 50,000 sightings of Migrating Broad-Wing Hawks from the Soddy Mtn. Lookout, for the fall counts!!!

At the beginning of hawk watch season, fall 2014, we needed 601 Broad-winged Hawks to make the record. Today we saw 436, 37 yesterday and 107 last week, bringing us to a present total of 580 seen this season. Tomorrow morning, we will reach our awesome goal!!

Today's stats: Wednesday, 9/17, 2014
436 Broad-winged Hawks      
1    American Kestrel
1    Peregrine Falcon
1    Sharp-Shinned Hawk
2    Coopers Hawks
1    Red-Tailed Hawks
2    Bald Eagles:  1 adult,  1 immature
1    Unidentified Buteo

We had largely high clouds, or clear skies. It got quite hot midday, and it was a bit tough to keep our binocs up from 2 to 4 O'clock, just because of the intensity of seeking hawks we knew should be coming in.  Lower numbers in the morning gave way to larger kettles in the afternoon, and the hawks kept flying, both in kettles and in bulleting singles, all the way up to 6:00 PM.  We had numerous good looks at Bald Eagles going both North and South, of course, causing us to reduce our morning counts appropriately. Who cares? We just love seeing them no matter which way they fly. LOL

Barring winds that carry the hawks somewhere other than over us...weather and conditions indicate flights should be good throughout the day.

Looking forward to crossing the mark!

Doing our best to meet the test,
Jimmy and Cynthia Wilkerson

Keep Looking UP!!!

Plenty of Eyes Tuesday

We welcomed hawk watching friends Bill Haley, Harold Sharp, and Phil and Carolyn Snow (Loudon, TN) to  our watch on Tuesday and hope to see them again today.  With such excellent help, we were bound to see all possible hawks. Well, even the best could miss a few.  But we always say, "More eyes cover more skies." 

Cloud cover changed dramatically through out the day, but was not to yield as many Broad-wings as we hoped. Our expectations remain high for a good count today...unless the skies are solid blue.  As we have said before, high hawks are oh so hard to see in a blue sky.

We had an unusually low flying, unusually dark, large, immature Broad-wing yesterday.  In fact, the only reason we felt absolutely sure to call it, was due to the dark outline, which surrounds the wings of a Broad-wing, was dark and very visible on this bird.  Jimmy also noticed the banding in the tail.  We watched it in awe as it passed close and strait over head.  Bill jested that we were more stumped by a hawk passing close than the specks. And he would be right in my case. I more readily recognize their silhouette and behavior at a distance.  A sitting hawk - sometimes, I would have to look in the book. 

We had wonderful conversation of birding spots out west, and Carolyn had excellent pictures to share of her newest Western species found.  It set our hearts to longing, to see what we haven't seen. A little conversation, helps to liven the longer day. We spent our longest day yet, logging in 8 hours, I believe. Bill arrived around 8:30 AM hoping to capture the "early birds," Falcons, Accipiters, Osprey, etc.  But, alas there were none to show up.  Bummer. We were counting on you, Bill. LOL

We saw several Bald Eagles, but counted only 3. The 3 we could determine were unique from one another. Hope we didn't discount a couple of Adults.  Our local Red-Shouldered family continue to rise up from the trees to escort the other Buteos out of their territory, and on occasion will fuss dramatically at an Eagle or two.  It's all part of the experience!

Tuesday's Totals were:
9-17-2014
Broad-winged Hawks     37
Sharp-shinned Hawks     3
Coopers Hawks               1
Red-shouldered Hawks   2
Bald Eagles                     3


Temps remain in the low 80's, and winds were mild, under 10 all day.

Be sure to check the Watch Totals from around the US, and the remarkable numbers that can be seen each day in certain prime areas. See: Hawk Count for HMANA. And notice the 68,000+ hawks counted yesterday at Detroit River Hawk Watch! WOW.  I will put a link on the sidebar for future reference.

Good birding to ya,
Keep Looking up!!!

Hawk Count Totals across the Nation

 For many of the nations top hawk watch counts check out this site:

http://hawkcount.org/

Note today's count at Detroit River: 68,658 hawks!!!!!!

Jimmy, drew all of the notable watches to the NE of us, all stationed along the Appalachians, along which we believe many of our hawks use the uplifting wind currents to bring them straight to us. And he discovered that if you laid a ruler down, you could draw a line directly to us.  Hawk watching has developed along that line for a reason, because people see hawks migrating along that line. But we often wonder what other hawks come our way.  Impossible to know, as hard as we try, we only assume, guess, speculate.  But from Hawk Mountain all the way to Texas, Hawks on the move can be counted.  And there are huge numbers of them that make that great trek every year.  That's a good thing.

Check the next blog for today's count. Not what we hoped. Maybe tomorrow.
Keep looking up!!!

Fog Too Dense For Flights

This morning's fog hung on until late in the day.  We drove west and found the dense cloud cover continued beyond our ability to wait it out.  After seeing no raptors for a couple of hours, we headed home. The sun broke through for a couple of hours late in the day, and we couldn't get back up.  We did add Bluebirds to our commons list while we were there.  (Were wondering where they were.)  Hummers still streamed through at a steady rate, even through the fog. 

Jimmy found our mascot. Yay!! Mr Owl had blown over the edge of the ridge.  It was below the south end pine in the weeds, and the pole was buried in grass. So he is proudly standing once more, and driving the poor Carolina Wrens crazy!

Virginia hawk sites are reporting counts at 1000-2000 BW's today. Hawk Mtn., way North-east of us 896, I think.  So, we are thinking tomorrow has a great opportunity to produce  larger kettles than what we've seen.  Great expectations, and we hope to have a little help. 

Looking forward to reporting to you tomorrow!

Keep Looking UP!!!