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!!!

Hawkcount final spread sheet for 2024

This is the final tally and December's Totals for 2024 in a clip from Hawkcount.org, where we record our Data officially With the Hawk Migration Association of America. Also I put up a clip of the Rolling Totals I keep on the right side bar of the blog, (when in Computer version) that identifies the daily totals updates as we add them, always listed in order first seen. It is a great counter to help both myself and Jimmy notice errors in the count. I can double ck myself on Hawkcount, or can tell Jimmy if I catch an error from my end. In the end the numbers should always match. Thirdly, I am putting up a clip of the Grand Totals Box for this year compared to last year, which helps us further keep a double ck. Because if the totals don't add up when added to last years count there is an error somewhere. I will add this years totals to last years Grand to see if it matches with my running totals as logged in our paper record. So counts are verified 4 ways when documented.