Hey birders,
So what's a typical day like up on hawk watch recently? Well, if you've been there you can skip to the end, but I'm sure a few of you haven't made it down yet, so read on.
I normally arrive just as it's getting light: it's a calm time when I hear the chips and seeps of warblers passing overhead and tree swallows are starting to lift off, often drifting around in clouds that look like smoke. I fall into the daily routine of setting up the data entry tablet, cursing at it several times as I wait for forms to load, updating the totals board …. and then starting to look north for raptors.
It's sharpie sunrise … the hour when these small accipiters start flying on snappy wing beats while Ospreys flap with determination above and the tally increasing in ones and twos. Maybe ten in the first hour, maybe thirty in the next.
Soon visiting birders and park campers start turning up and are often treated straight off to a small silhouette passing overhead … or maybe a marauding Merlin dashing by.
A little later, numbers of raptors are picking up and I'm having difficulty keeping up with the data entry, chatting with people and remembering to stay hydrated or eat. Birds come in pulses and it's exciting to see a lone raptor and then suddenly notice that it's accompanied by more and yet more, as they appear out of the clouds.
I try and keep the enthusiasm levels high on the platform giving updates on how many birds passed that hour, handing out unabridged humor on unsuspecting visitors and generally participating in the general geeky bird talk that we are all so comfortable around. It's a fun, inclusive atmosphere where most people really get into the spirit and add to the energy.
When the Kestrel cocktail hour hits in the late afternoon I'm exhausted. Most of us suffer from "raptor neck" from looking high up all day long and I think sometimes we should all participate in a massage circle. My eyes are tired and I'm ready for supper. However, I'm also ready and excited to do it all over again the next day, and the next … all the way to the end of November.
Tally so far at the halfway mark of the counting season: total raptors 14,106
Osprey 3,629
Bald Eagle 329
Northern Harrier 383
Sharp-shinned Hawk 2,436
Cooper's Hawk 652
Broad-winged Hawk 1,235
Red-tailed Hawk 99
Red-shouldered Hawk 8
Swainson's Hawk 2
American Kestrel 3,302
Merlin 1,221
Peregrine 567
Mississippi Kite 4
Happy birding,
Steve
