Quick Look At Snickers Gap Sept Numbers

Snickers Gap only posted through September 28th, but check out those Bald Eagle numbers!

A Small Kettle Surprise

We are at 1732 raptors for the fall season, thus far...before this post. Let's see what Wednesday's flight raises the number to:

1758

Hoping For The Flap Flap Glide

Ac·cip·i·ter: a genus of hawks with short, broad wings, long legs and tail, adapted for quick flight through wooded areas, which eats mostly small mammals and birds. Sometimes known as Birdhawks, with over 50 different named hawks in the genus. .....so say the dictionaries and other references that tell how to spell and say the name. Ak Sip u Der. In our neck of the woods, the notable species we count are Sharp-shinned Hawks, Coopers Hawks, and Northern Harrier. Check out the chart below, reprinted here from Bill Haley's brochure about the Hawk Watch, which indicates the usual density of raptors migrating through our flyway, arriving in our area, and when. From the watch we are not looking for a hawk hunting hunting small prey through the trees, to count for migration. Although sometimes they will drop to catch prey when we have watched them come from very far North of us, and maybe later in the day we will see them leave the trees and move on south. But to count them in most cases, we watch them move through high above the trees, and continue South. So we are looking for a specific flight characteristic. The wing beat pattern of Sharpies and Coopers is more of a flap, flap glide cadence. Although a few other birds might have the cadence for a short moment or two, these two migrants will continue to have that cadence any time they are not in a glide, (riding the wind.) The difficulty then becomes telling them apart at distance. The easiest way is often, that the Sharpie appears to have very little head sticking out beyond the wings, and the Cooper's head is often obvious. But also the tail of the Sharpie is squared off. The Coopers' spreads with a rounded edge, and has a white rounded spot near the end from the bands, which can look like a ball, when the sun shines through. The Northern Harriers have extremely long tails, and hold their wings up, in a V similar to a vulture stance when gliding. Even in flight with flapping wings, the overall look from a distance is the bird is a flying V. They look lighter than air for sure. And also have a slow flapping cadence. All three have shown up on our counts already, but this is the month they shine. Bill is hoping their numbers pick up, as weather now cools and the winds die down. He will spend a lot of time looking down the valley lower than the horizon as well to catch many of them. Some will track rapidly across the clouds, and he will be lucky to catch them bulleting through. So to see more of them, he will be hoping for the slower flap, flap glide.

Here's the report for Tuesday Oct. 4:

Some Hawk Watch Days Are Just 0 To 5 Low Count Days

Cool air is slowly seeping into our days. In the mornings around the house the trees are very birdy. This morning the partly cloudy skies would seem encouraging if it were late September, and we were looking into them for Broad-wings. From this point on, kettles of hawks are less expected. Not out of the question, but less expected. Some hawks do come through as more than one of a species at a time, and sometimes more than one species at a time, but they dribble through. One or two here and one or two there. Until vulture season nearer November. Bill is good at catching those hawks zipping out of the north down the valley. It was my weakness. I was always good at getting the ones high over our heads or sneaking behind us.Debbie got the specks so high or far out. Roi kept the ridgeline covered, and found the ones ducking into the tree line. Harold could pull hawks from the skies around Vultures like none of us ever could, and Jimmy loved the ones which came in low as all of us were looking up higher. Hawk watching as a team made the job much easier. We could divy up the sky into quadrants if needed and switch up to relieve the monotiny. Miss our team time. But there is no team this year, or for a couple of years. So we are always so happy to see the days when Bill has help. But I am sure there are days he loves the restfulness of just sitting and looking for hawks. Many times through the years, we looked all day in good conditions and left the watch with a 0 raptor count. But not on Monday...Here's the report:

The Cast of Migrants May Take on Some New Species

If the Broad-wings did not back up because of Huricane Ian, but moved west of us instead, the season is still not over. BWs may have hustled on out, and are into Panama and beyond by now, but quite a few species have only just begun. Bill has begun to count a Red-tailed Hawk or two, as they begin their shift. And we are entering prime season for the Accipiters, The big Daddy Red-tailed and Red-shouldered hawks, or the falcons. And later into the month, numbers of Harriers should pick up as well. What is cool, some of these will fly low and over the watch if they are lucky. view the species page for a chart to see when the hawks have moved through our area traditionally - https://soddymountainhawkwatch.blogspot.com/p/raptor-species.html ______________ But for now- Here's the October 2 Report _____________

This is the HawkCount.org chart for the month of September ---- http://hawkcount.org/466-2022-09

Gusty Winds !!!!

We seldom get many hawks in winds like on this day. The trees in the yard were full of birds, because they are not migrating in this. they are feeding and researving energy. Sometimes we have seen numerous Accipiters on windy days, if you can get on them in the vast sky, because they move extremely fast through the air. Later in the year, the Vultures take great advantage of the winds to get moving. For now, they use the wind for strengthening their muscles. Out west they are on the move south, but not so much here yet. They love to play on the wind, or it seems sometimes, because that is when they come out and just linger for long periods. Here is Saturday's report:

A LITTLE BIRDING ON THE SIDE

As Hurricane Ian comes inland again, into South Carolina and runs up the coast until it becomes less strong today, the outer edges of the storm only push to about Knoxville, so no clouds got into our Blue Sky realm. Bill sent a little note to say he had a super little find a little closer to the ground: "I saw 2 Red-breasted Nuthatches in the pines behind the lookout today. Got very close looks as they responded well to my pishing. Also 6 Monarch butterflies." It is, of course migration season for so many things, so many birds and Butterflies are also on the move. So sometimes, when Hawk watching is consuming our time to see the other birds, it is a plus to see something as bonus as Red-breasted Nuthatches. But Bill was not the only lucky one yesterday. Jimmy was being prepped for his IVIG, and I stepped to the door to look out for a minute, to not disturb his new nurse. It was just in time to see a Red-Headed Wood-pecker fly into our big oak. He didn't stay long. In fact, he was one of a number of birds all over our trees until something scared them all off in mass....Probably a hawk of course. LOL But the kicker to this story, is we have never in all our years living here, seen one in our back yard. Again, has to be migration. The mixed batch of birds flitting through our trees were probably just bonus birds seeking a bit of food before moving on. I love the fall opportunities to view what you might not otherwise see every day. Especially when they are coming to where you are. LOL