tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85747824192580813962024-02-20T06:01:42.687-08:00Hawk Migration NotesJason Sodergrenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15581788900536900328noreply@blogger.comBlogger214125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8574782419258081396.post-9974535962371996842017-10-06T09:36:00.001-07:002017-10-06T09:36:53.653-07:00HMANA’s Northern New England Meet Up - October 13-15, 2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Mid October is one of the most beautiful times to visit the
Monadnock Region and Connecticut River Valleys of northern New England<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from Pack Monadnock by Raven.Digital</td></tr>
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<span style="text-align: left;">We are excited about our new weekend meet-ups (or mini-tours) as a way for
members and raptor enthusiasts to get together and visit new hawk watches in
the monitoring network. This year’s meet-up features New Hampshire’s Pack
Monadnock and Carter Hill Raptor Observatories, as well as Vermont’s Putney
Mountain Hawk Watch. Mid-October is an exciting time for hawk watching as
chances for Northern Goshawk and Golden Eagle increase significantly, and
diversity of raptors is high.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBcbbaHbnetdVFoBYH-Am7UZVFn0IsiRGWcUnbnyF8_-8taCUKT6enLW3y06EwPtVZ_zQsBXvJ6yanmt02aEF45AHmYvMqmWQz-6335VIIGST93mBMe9UvpSnMQ4xtJKCubitsiM8E4WBv/s1600/Lillian+Stokes_Bald+Eagle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1497" data-original-width="1516" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBcbbaHbnetdVFoBYH-Am7UZVFn0IsiRGWcUnbnyF8_-8taCUKT6enLW3y06EwPtVZ_zQsBXvJ6yanmt02aEF45AHmYvMqmWQz-6335VIIGST93mBMe9UvpSnMQ4xtJKCubitsiM8E4WBv/s200/Lillian+Stokes_Bald+Eagle.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bald Eagle by Lillian Stokes</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">On Friday night, the group will get together for a short
presentation by Monitoring Site Coordinator, Julie Brown followed by dinner, covered
by HMANA in Keene NH. Saturday, the group will visit the Carter Hill Hawk Watch
which is tucked perfectly into the New England landscape at an active apple orchard
and farm stand. You can scan the skies for red-shouldered hawks, pick a few apples
and eat a cider doughnut! Then on to Pack Monadnock which is a gorgeous
mountaintop hawk watch amidst red spruces and granite. You feel like you’re on
top of the world with views looking north into the White mountains and Maine,
south into Massachusetts and west into Vermont. Sunday, the group will travel
west into southern Vermont to beautiful Putney, an artist community, where we’ll
take a short hike up Putney Mountain for more stunning views of VT’s rolling
hills and watch migration over the CT River valley.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Northern Goshawk and Red-tailed Hawk at Pack, Raven.Digital</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Meet-Ups are more loosely organized than a formal HMANA tour.
Participants find lodging on their own and drive themselves. You are welcome to
stay with the guide and group throughout the day but also have the freedom to explore
and do your own thing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Please visit <span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.hmana.org/">www.hmana.org</a> for details and pricing or contact Julie Brown at <span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0in;"><a href="mailto:brown@hmana.org">brown@hmana.org</a> to reserve your spot. </span></span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Raven.Digital</td></tr>
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Julie Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04921010025253205978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8574782419258081396.post-22018765289303097012017-07-27T06:31:00.004-07:002017-07-27T06:36:30.800-07:00Hawkwatching Fun at Annual Kittatinny Roundtable<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hawk Mountain Sanctuary hosted the annual Kittatinny
Roundtable this past weekend. HMANA
vice-chair Laurie Goodrich organized the event, which this year also included
HMANA’s new executive director, Jane Ferreyra; monitoring site coordinator
Julie Brown; HMANA chair Carolyn Hoffman and board members Wavell Fogleman,
Rich Conroy and Brian Wargo. Also attending were site coordinators from the
Kittatinny ridge area of Pennsylvania, also with participation from several
Maryland and Delaware sites.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Laurie’s agenda always includes a mix of current raptor
research and a roundup of the year’s spring and fall migration. We heard about Laurie’s broad-winged hawk
migration project, which involves trapping several hawks, attaching very small
solar-powered transmitters and then monitoring where they are. Her research documents their speed, path
south, where they eventually winter, and their path back north. You can learn more about this exciting work <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><a href="https://www.hawkmountain.org/science/broadwing-tracking/page.aspx?id=4456" target="_blank">here</a> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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We also heard from hawkwatcher extraordinaire Paul Fritz, who
showed us his method of keeping his scope stable during strong winds. Paul’s weighted mesh net, with its low center of
gravity, has kept his scope upright from Alaska to Pennsylvania.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Brian Wargo shared details about his junior hawkwatcher
program, which is modeled somewhat on the national junior ranger program. He has produced a variety of materials to
engage children and youth in the fun of hawkwatching. These can be downloaded and customized for
any site. The templates and full details can be found<a href="http://www.hmana.org/junior-hawkwatcher-program/" target="_blank"> <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">here</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We also learned about the curricula a Hawk Mountain intern
has developed for use in schools. Also, the
Pennsylvania Biological Survey’s <span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.pabiologicalsurvey.org/goshawk/" target="_blank"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Northern Goshawk project</span>,</a></span> which is documenting the decline of
nesting by these birds in the state, was another topic. Finally, but not least, we discussed last
year’s migration itself, looking for trends around each site’s big days (or
lack thereof) for several species of raptors. For example, we could clearly see that bald eagles are migrating in
large numbers throughout the fall, and that as their numbers increase, reports
of osprey sightings decrease, except along the coastal sites.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As ever the roundtable was great fun and a great way for
hawkwatchers from many sites to talk about hawks during summer months when hawkwatching
is a bit slim. The roundtable lets us interact with the hawkwatchers we don’t
normally get to see because once migration starts we are each at our own sites. Thanks again to Laurie for organizing this always
informative and fun annual event. <o:p></o:p></div>
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FYI: HMANA is working
towards organizing similar events for other areas, too. All that is needed is to find central
locations where several migration sites are clustered within a few hours
driving distance of each other. The
Great Lakes area and New England are two that would appear to be candidates for
a similar event. <o:p></o:p></div>
Carolyn Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03179182853082650546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8574782419258081396.post-35677798243279259572016-09-19T07:35:00.001-07:002016-09-19T07:35:46.264-07:00HMANA Seeks Executive Director<div class="MsoNormal">
The Hawk Migration Association of North America (HMANA) is seeking
a dynamic, enthusiastic leader to become its first executive director. If you are a proven fundraiser in a
non-profit arena, preferably in an environmental field and with knowledge of
raptors and their migrations, please consider applying for this unique opportunity.
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Applications will be accepted until November 1, 2016. The winning candidate will have an office in
the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge’s new visitor center near Gibraltar,
Michigan, approximately 20 miles south of Detroit. The visitor’s center will open in early 2017
and is located within a major flyway for southbound raptors. <o:p></o:p></div>
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We are looking for an experienced, outgoing individual with
proven fundraising expertise and a track record of membership growth and
volunteer engagement in a nonprofit organization. Position is funded for two
years, and the incumbent is expected to work with the board of directors to seek
funding to grow the organization and continue the position beyond 2018. Benefits include health insurance stipend and
vacation, among others.<o:p></o:p></div>
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For a full job description, visit <a href="http://www.hmana.org/executive-director-job-description/">http://www.hmana.org/executive-director-job-description/</a><a href="http://www.hmana.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/HMANA-ExDir-job-description-091116.pdf"></a><span style="color: #1f497d;"> </span>. To apply,
please submit cover letter, resume, and at least three professional references
to: <a href="mailto:director@hmana.org">director@hmana.org</a> . No phone calls
or agency submissions, please. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">HMANA is a membership-based, citizen-science and
professional organization of more than 200 raptor migration monitoring sites in
North America. Founded in 1974, we maintain the largest repository of raptor
migration counts in the world through HawkCount. HMANA partners with three other organizations
as part of the Raptor Population Index Project (<a href="http://rpi-project.org/"><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">http://rpi-project.org\</span></a></span><span style="background: white; color: #0e7744; line-height: 115%;">)</span><span style="background: white; color: #0e7744; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">to analyze and disseminate information on
regional and continental raptor population trends based on migration count data.
The organization maintains a variety of other research programs and fundraising
efforts (<a href="http://www.hmana.org/"><span style="background: white; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">http://www.hmana.org/</span></a></span><span style="line-height: 115%;">).</span></span>Carolyn Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03179182853082650546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8574782419258081396.post-89628737371353592602016-08-31T02:53:00.000-07:002016-08-31T02:53:48.846-07:00Counting Vultures on Migration - Protocols, Methods, etc.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Migrating Turkey Vulture...or is it?</td></tr>
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It's really exciting that fall migration is underway. As I'm sure most will agree, spending time at count sites is one of the great joys of the birding year. I'm helping count this year at a site that is new for me, Mohonk Preserve, in upstate New York. We won't see big numbers, but it's hawk watching. On most days, we have vultures in the sky. As most hawk watchers can attest, counting vultures can be a frustrating endeavor. This has been an issue for years and years. I haven't heard much discussion about it recently, so I'm curious how different sites handle counting these birds. I know it is somewhat site-dependent, but might be productive to get some discussion going on this topic if there is enough of a discrepancy between sites in methodology.<br />
What sort of vulture protocol do you have in place to ensure some consistency in data collection?<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8574782419258081396.post-72575493251856221592016-08-23T11:52:00.002-07:002016-08-23T12:25:42.823-07:00"HMANA Get-together" Weekend in Cape May - October 14-16<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bald Eagle @ Cape May - Tom Reed</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This fall, October 14-16, HMANA will be running the first in
what we hope will be a series of low-cost, self-drive events around the country
at Cape May, New Jersey. The idea is to pick one place each fall and spring to
meet other HMANA members and raptor afficionados at for a weekend of raptor
watching adventures. HMANA will provide participants with local expert
leadership on the ground and a weekend long itinerary which you can keep to as
much as you would like. There will be a reception with food and drinks and we
will send you an electronic welcoming pack with loads of inside tips on the
area with great ideas on where to stay, where to eat (if you want to say slip
away for a romantic meal rather than stay with the group), places you’ll want
to visit if you decide to extend your stay, maps and lots of other cool tidbits
of information.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Juvenile Peregrine Falcon - Tom Reed</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you’ve ever been to a HMANA Conference, or on one of our
longer tours, you will know that one of the best things about them is the
opportunity to meet and make friends with people from across the country who
love hawks just as much as you do. The idea of these weekend
"Get-together" events is to provide members with the same sense of
community and chances to make new friends and networking connections as these
other events but at a lower cost and with a shorter time commitment.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH_5OhxvkkNWpXWObqrWkvBqSMRvretVRmVSGIUONMGiCGgXwghwmnl-_LcQptkBvMfKANwY-o9WP6ch2m_c8OxmAPNVPXRRFLvDUY8J7CmftMcH_BAqYRzv-GlnNinIDtDmdSL_AHzaQ/s1600/GOEA_Fall2013_PerObs1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH_5OhxvkkNWpXWObqrWkvBqSMRvretVRmVSGIUONMGiCGgXwghwmnl-_LcQptkBvMfKANwY-o9WP6ch2m_c8OxmAPNVPXRRFLvDUY8J7CmftMcH_BAqYRzv-GlnNinIDtDmdSL_AHzaQ/s320/GOEA_Fall2013_PerObs1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Golden Eagle - Tom Reed</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course picking Cape May, New Jersey to kick off the
series was something of a no-brainer. The hawkwatch platform must be as close
as it is possible to get to hallowed ground for your average hawkwatcher and
the whole town is nothing short of a Mecca for most birders. There’s a reason
that you will probably find more famous birders per square mile in Cape May
than in any other part of the United States and that simple reason is the
birds. Cape May is one of those places where migration can be truly magical and
it’s probably also one of the only places where the phenomenon of migration has
inspired a book about both the place and its characters.</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7RCRAZqWSGSl77JvWe8uwkjhr_uVmn8qLC9dAFVRP397_chwRBZRTlX34GbtIjk1ddVzYD1udxFeVWkkucpTe68kIXjwm0SOp99mCqciMZgR_k7OUFGqzXMZJYdWiz2eeGjuXxrOqZ9s/s1600/NOGO_print_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7RCRAZqWSGSl77JvWe8uwkjhr_uVmn8qLC9dAFVRP397_chwRBZRTlX34GbtIjk1ddVzYD1udxFeVWkkucpTe68kIXjwm0SOp99mCqciMZgR_k7OUFGqzXMZJYdWiz2eeGjuXxrOqZ9s/s320/NOGO_print_1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Northern Goshawk - Tom Reed</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For hawkwatching fans, Mid-October is a great time to visit
the Cape as many falcons and accipiters reach the peak of their fall flight.
It’s also a great time to potentially pick up some of those highly prized later
migrants like Golden Eagle, Northern Goshawk and Rough-legged Hawk. Mid-October
is also edging into vagrant season in Cape May when almost anything that
migrates might show up including the possibility of an off course Swainson’s
Hawk. I remember my anticipation being so high on my first visit to Cape May
that I could barely sleep and the first night I found myself wandering the
streets of Cape May at about 3:00am listening to the plaintive calls of migrant
thrushes as I waited anxiously for dawn.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtKYlTkTwJnUu8oiQERNuGsPZu4oIrJrDScCFNaSLJlhpt73OkEyyRaZfw8t5CDYwhn_o4fu7wGmGOyuR2rcxx8v6JNRydPQqVh3jpezOmx9Eh3b0l0o377wrKa-CYsWlhzwP_oMaStis/s1600/SWHA_Fall2013_PerObs1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtKYlTkTwJnUu8oiQERNuGsPZu4oIrJrDScCFNaSLJlhpt73OkEyyRaZfw8t5CDYwhn_o4fu7wGmGOyuR2rcxx8v6JNRydPQqVh3jpezOmx9Eh3b0l0o377wrKa-CYsWlhzwP_oMaStis/s320/SWHA_Fall2013_PerObs1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Swainson's Hawk @ Cape May - Tom Reed</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Expert guidance for this trip will be provided by Tom Reed.
Tom is not only a member of the HMANA board but also one of Cape May’s previous
hawkwatchers. As well as currently working for Cape May Bird Observatory as
their Migration Count Coordinator he is also one of the few employees of CMBO
who grew up in the area, making him the perfect person to supply us with a
great itinerary and lots of insider information. Tom also provided the
incredible photographs that festoon this blog post. We do hope that you can
join us for the fun. For more information and to book your place visit our
website (<a href="http://www.hmana.org/hmana-get-together-cape-may-nj/" target="_blank">here</a>).</span></div>
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Luke Tillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885222370605522772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8574782419258081396.post-85340679836665192142016-08-15T18:07:00.000-07:002016-09-16T10:41:16.430-07:00Hawkcount as a resource<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Hawkcount as a resource</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">One of HMANA’s most valuable assets
is its online database Hawkcount(created by Jason Sodergren). As well as
being a useful place for counts across the US and beyond to store their
sightings, the data provides a number of useful functions for those that want
to dip their toe into the world of hawkwatching. (Note you can click on all the
images in this article and make them larger).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6-EQUuPdhvGGrMW8HnCc_aKkAI4qzdANveltUmGNlFc-cEbtA4ImMRNAH7RmSannkHXXKuwYF3CanImZPT1CZtnZBsTCQ8g3jQElLdCy5UjJQYI4dyqRf3uWXtnsDYuH9I60gnq7UZA0/s1600/Untitled.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6-EQUuPdhvGGrMW8HnCc_aKkAI4qzdANveltUmGNlFc-cEbtA4ImMRNAH7RmSannkHXXKuwYF3CanImZPT1CZtnZBsTCQ8g3jQElLdCy5UjJQYI4dyqRf3uWXtnsDYuH9I60gnq7UZA0/s320/Untitled.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hawkcount: Home Page</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Finding recent daily count details</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">From the front page of Hawkcount
you have a couple of options for drilling down into the data contained within.
First up when counts are in progress you can see the daily results from the
various counts on the front page and click through for more data. You can see
from the screenshot that I took this early in August when just a few counts are
online, but if the days count from Rockfish Gap is what you were after then you
can click through straight from the Hawkcount home page. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLiuHqMBboJWPuG65M2f06jnI7WKZv4ImyRcgkuscYa12ErqU08nRw1ATWT4WcYBV6-XH4krEZr60zVBZb1arWIRre-udAk9kT8LXnjYQrfxnq8dQgCotdX91WuHo3fP8CPVP8cKkWLzI/s1600/Untitled2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLiuHqMBboJWPuG65M2f06jnI7WKZv4ImyRcgkuscYa12ErqU08nRw1ATWT4WcYBV6-XH4krEZr60zVBZb1arWIRre-udAk9kT8LXnjYQrfxnq8dQgCotdX91WuHo3fP8CPVP8cKkWLzI/s320/Untitled2.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hawkcount: Individual Count Daily Report</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">This will show you the day’s count and if you
are lucky a forecast for the next days or next few days*. From there you can
click on the “Site Profile” link to get into data related to migration timing
and more seasonal related count data (more on those below).</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSvJEhJ4XeZkLZWNF2hoLyeuHcovzCMLo5H78yHlerBnOY7UmLvmwCbBMaua0aulqsvSlfvQ6SprCuJwSvUKIMwnLyqQzX7KpRa2KLOBgdzf0vgjy-aTwHGqN8a1w1xI6ZnZ9CYIgsS90/s1600/Untitled1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSvJEhJ4XeZkLZWNF2hoLyeuHcovzCMLo5H78yHlerBnOY7UmLvmwCbBMaua0aulqsvSlfvQ6SprCuJwSvUKIMwnLyqQzX7KpRa2KLOBgdzf0vgjy-aTwHGqN8a1w1xI6ZnZ9CYIgsS90/s320/Untitled1.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hawkcount: Count Map/Pulldown Page</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Finding a count</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">First and foremost, Hawkcount can
help you find a local hawkwatch to visit. Everyone’s heard of Cape May (<a href="http://www.hmana.org/hmana-get-together-cape-may-nj/" target="_blank">where we are running this year’s HMANA
Get-together</a>), but how many of you can name the other nine currently
functioning New Jersey based hawkwatches on Hawkcount? To find them click on
the little map at the top of HMANA’s Hawkcount website and you will enter a
page (photo above) where you can either use a pull down menu, click on a state
to bring up a map of hawkwatches in that state or use the list of countries,
states and provinces at the bottom of the page to find a hawkwatch near
you. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy5dfBmCAKmDQ_hETxzNyhLZyBdo7oBNJE4g0sfWpRCLkXrQyHEOJjm_8UY94B0YU145nEihJKv96DfA8f-WK_bzEhCBUKlWiISU4X9um2LEFuV7481XXBVadk5XsXFho3F5KGJYiNi-g/s1600/Untitled2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy5dfBmCAKmDQ_hETxzNyhLZyBdo7oBNJE4g0sfWpRCLkXrQyHEOJjm_8UY94B0YU145nEihJKv96DfA8f-WK_bzEhCBUKlWiISU4X9um2LEFuV7481XXBVadk5XsXFho3F5KGJYiNi-g/s320/Untitled2.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hawkcount: State Counts</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Note in the example for NY State (above) you
can see on the list below the map whether they are a fall or spring hawkwatch,
whether they are active (check when the last data was collected) and where they
are located. If you click one of the sites you can then start getting a whole
load more information. Be aware the counts only show in the map of the
state you have clicked on, to see other counts in other states you need to go
back and click on the other state you are interested in.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0ZQVfJbU6csovInnKt8_D4TZbZwNy8JnXcm7gJ6QOhWR42sb-0wQsqGTdcDET_wmQCp02HqIaaLZlO4JZK_fD_XT4S05I5TzkdOIl5oRmt1t9n6iEK6512VvQNupR_pc_9aOmR1FKp-s/s1600/Untitled3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="169" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0ZQVfJbU6csovInnKt8_D4TZbZwNy8JnXcm7gJ6QOhWR42sb-0wQsqGTdcDET_wmQCp02HqIaaLZlO4JZK_fD_XT4S05I5TzkdOIl5oRmt1t9n6iEK6512VvQNupR_pc_9aOmR1FKp-s/s320/Untitled3.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hawkcount: Individual Counts - Site Profile</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Individual Count Information – Site
Profile</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Once you’ve located a count that
you might want to visit you can click through onto the individual count's page
and start to find out a whole load more about them (see screenshot above). Most
sites are going to give you a set of basic information about them including
contact details for them including websites, directions to the site and
information like the dates of their count season.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrMwkkWBCuLa4816Hkf98ZqBMAprhaABkpFPICD-HQi2Fp8GruL590W_5SRO9WAAdcUG1T3orkfWjacv9sQ59PVju12xRu0e9jB4yKLqIwnk5ctGX-CAWz8S-4mSBXqlG_U_AIKCU87cw/s1600/Untitled4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrMwkkWBCuLa4816Hkf98ZqBMAprhaABkpFPICD-HQi2Fp8GruL590W_5SRO9WAAdcUG1T3orkfWjacv9sQ59PVju12xRu0e9jB4yKLqIwnk5ctGX-CAWz8S-4mSBXqlG_U_AIKCU87cw/s320/Untitled4.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hawkcount: Individual Counts - Migration Timing </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">You can however start to drill down
much further into the data. Given Braddock Bay as an example: If you were
trying to say work out when it would be a good time to visit if you wanted to
see a big flight of Turkey Vultures you can click the “Migration Timing” tab
(see screenshot above). This would allow you to see general trends for
migration timing in the bar chart but also see historically when the largest
flights have occurred. Looking at that historical data, to see a big flight of
TV’s at Braddock would see you visiting the first week of April into the early
portion of the second week.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Individual
Count Information – Latest Count Data</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">If you were targeting certain
species, a good time to visit a watch for peak migration at a watch or even
just wanting to see how often there was a counter on site that would be one way
to approach things. The other way would be to look at their count data
directly. From the counts "Site Profile" page you hit the “Latest
Count Data” link (top right on the site profile page). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6ZLsM_0Oox37K2DGz1h8L6why7rDKmP0TtrGUCzZWLT0MUVCLfPWw4hPx_tsUNaKmDdn9cA2cyjSs2sI020w9e9epXuYxidSBcCDk5owSb_8sdJUl-85Xo_3pv-Ey7lk8ulyz1nryeTA/s1600/Untitled7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6ZLsM_0Oox37K2DGz1h8L6why7rDKmP0TtrGUCzZWLT0MUVCLfPWw4hPx_tsUNaKmDdn9cA2cyjSs2sI020w9e9epXuYxidSBcCDk5owSb_8sdJUl-85Xo_3pv-Ey7lk8ulyz1nryeTA/s320/Untitled7.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hawkcount: Individual Counts - Latest Count Data</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">From there you can change the month
or year using the pulldown menu on the left (see above screenshot). If you go
to May 2016 you can see that Braddock has someone out almost every day that
month unless the weather precluded a counter being able to get out. Some other
sites you will see are much less frequently manned. If you want to go to a site
and have some company, make sure you find a site to visit with regular coverage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">If you scroll further down the page
you can do some fun comparison work and compare previous seasons at a certain
count. By clicking on the previous month comparison tab (which will show you
that sites historical data by month, or that sites historical data by season).
If you scroll all the way down, you can see the day by day reports (see
screenshot below).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiiEfWUdxj4Y6fK9Evx_W-pHuVsEsnPNUvd_PEaeWQm0DBFATDQ_4e4z3gSnpWPCci7r3sUSh_PBW6eyE8AUuvYJU4BbcVEOO0VhbkI-ciZp4Z-f3QG1-MfGUlPTw6RszEm18YkZ6I_ZU/s1600/Untitled8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiiEfWUdxj4Y6fK9Evx_W-pHuVsEsnPNUvd_PEaeWQm0DBFATDQ_4e4z3gSnpWPCci7r3sUSh_PBW6eyE8AUuvYJU4BbcVEOO0VhbkI-ciZp4Z-f3QG1-MfGUlPTw6RszEm18YkZ6I_ZU/s320/Untitled8.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Hawkcount: Individual Counts - Season/Monthly </span><span style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Comparison</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">These are just a few ways that you
can use Hawkcount to help you find a count, plan a visit to a count, keep up
with recent days at your local watch and even get a forecast for upcoming count
days. Sometimes I just enjoy some vicarious hawkwatching by scrolling through
the recent reports!<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://hawkcount.org/" target="_blank">You can visit
the website here.</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
* If you are lucky at the end of the information included in the day’s count
there might be a “Forecast” for the next day or upcoming days. I must say that
as a hawkwatcher I mildly loathed the forecast section for the following
reasons: 1/ if you put in a bad forecast it means anyone who reads it probably
won’t come down - guaranteeing you a lonely visitor free day 2/ If you put that
it is likely to be good and it somehow turns out not to be then I worried that
people would blame me for making them come all the way out to the watch 3/ who
wants to jinx a potentially good day by touting it online beforehand?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Luke Tillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885222370605522772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8574782419258081396.post-43240215858574413042016-04-06T16:43:00.000-07:002016-04-06T16:43:04.037-07:00It's Raptorthon Season. Join the fun!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhA_bwmngShAObyH_Pwn9JHY7e8iVFrACxJ3_EVaR2So9sVKP4TWMX3PhrjEPdq01FP8t9hnlAtPAQYchlKrQv9OtJIg0M_qMd-kuAUvV2ejY3zgpw_bQ9kH7otsIRLetSK9i5wxN2AxXT/s1600/rthon+Brian+Taber.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhA_bwmngShAObyH_Pwn9JHY7e8iVFrACxJ3_EVaR2So9sVKP4TWMX3PhrjEPdq01FP8t9hnlAtPAQYchlKrQv9OtJIg0M_qMd-kuAUvV2ejY3zgpw_bQ9kH7otsIRLetSK9i5wxN2AxXT/s1600/rthon+Brian+Taber.JPG" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Spring is here, even though it doesn’t look a whole lot like
it here in snowy New Hampshire. Phoebes, woodcocks and hermit thrushes are back
and raptors are certainly on the move overhead. It’s at this time each year
when HMANA celebrates <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Raptorthon,</b> a
great way to head out and enjoy a day birding while raising funds for
monitoring sites and HMANA programs. We invite you to take part this year!</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Over the past 8 years, Raptorthon has raised over $32,000 for
raptor migration programs and watch sites. I think that is pretty terrific. And
in my opinion the best part about Raptorthon is that it directly supports HMANA’s
Hawk Watch Fund. Raptorthon makes it possible for us to offer Hawk Watch Fund
grants each year to sites to help them purchase equipment, create interpretive
signs or hire educators. It’s one the greatest ways HMANA is able to give back
to the monitoring community. </span><br />
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This is how Raptorthon works…From March 1-May 31, simply
choose a day and decide where you’d like to count; your local watch site, your
backyard, or tour around anywhere to find as many species as you can. Count by
yourself, with friends, or as part of a team. Find as many raptor species as
possible during that day (or include ALL bird species if you wish). Then you
register with HMANA, assign a percentage of your proceeds to a watch site or other
conservation organization and let your friends or colleagues know you are
raising money for a great cause! Free t-shirts when you register. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Here are a few of the teams that
are participating this year. If you choose not to participate, please consider
supporting one of these.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf23t-Yhk97weBrQ6i5hIqZ_yos01b5nPtYzGfo8KNUll-f_VTzaRcOJXQ8esfBKvRmyuCZqiqiJUHxbRq4lybhWLw3MFWdYLKTllNhFNsMHSn1bBkWM0NK4_OeCBZMbsdTcAEDwlxQgE1/s1600/J+Liguori+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf23t-Yhk97weBrQ6i5hIqZ_yos01b5nPtYzGfo8KNUll-f_VTzaRcOJXQ8esfBKvRmyuCZqiqiJUHxbRq4lybhWLw3MFWdYLKTllNhFNsMHSn1bBkWM0NK4_OeCBZMbsdTcAEDwlxQgE1/s200/J+Liguori+3.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jerry Ligouri</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jerry
Ligouri</span></b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> is our featured Raptorthoner this year and </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">will be doing his Raptorthon on April 16th at<b> </b>Grandeur
Peak, Utah. Half of pledges go toward supporting HMANA programs like
HawkCount.org and Hawk Watch Fund grants and half goes directly to HawkWatch
International programs. Jerry has also donated this year's Raptorthon prizes, a copy of his field guide, Hawks At a Distance and a beautiful framed Northern Harrier print. </span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA_wNj4tG3gH9gfFG-gM2W-kljFnUxgt7vg-91ZdoaliETaVjGC7UOS6KeSPm6UvmVAq8eDmSVukAwd2o7NM3NFH-Y9eQeavJdlhgRs3XKoLmPGgqCXY6ZMLuCE8ywLu6K5X1W4NqO4d9g/s1600/Frank+Nicoletti.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA_wNj4tG3gH9gfFG-gM2W-kljFnUxgt7vg-91ZdoaliETaVjGC7UOS6KeSPm6UvmVAq8eDmSVukAwd2o7NM3NFH-Y9eQeavJdlhgRs3XKoLmPGgqCXY6ZMLuCE8ywLu6K5X1W4NqO4d9g/s200/Frank+Nicoletti.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frank counting at West Skyline</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Veteran raptorthoner,<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> Frank Nicoletti</b> will be conducting his
Raptorthon in late April where he counts at the West Skyline Hawk Watch in
Minnesota. Half of the funds he raises will support the Hawk Ridge Bird
Observatory and half will fund HMANA programs. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtKNP7OnpbWQwIH44_42ZYntLdCDsprOO-o2C1KtqO0YBGsmWDkhNUbB_XIxMjHcwOKsi98TaGVj4E5Au4N-zv7euUwHbdLJxD-ZOB8ZbtWO8-Id7-FGygPx1qa6pHw1GjNac8EVEDaEuF/s1600/Rich+Rthon+2016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtKNP7OnpbWQwIH44_42ZYntLdCDsprOO-o2C1KtqO0YBGsmWDkhNUbB_XIxMjHcwOKsi98TaGVj4E5Au4N-zv7euUwHbdLJxD-ZOB8ZbtWO8-Id7-FGygPx1qa6pHw1GjNac8EVEDaEuF/s200/Rich+Rthon+2016.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rich Conroy</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Rich Conroy is the site coordinator for Militia Hill Hawk Watch in PA and
will be conducting his annual Raptorthon there on April 23-24th. Proceeds will support the Militia Hill hawk watch, a site sponsorship on Hawkcount and HMANA's Counting for Raptor Conservation campaign. The Militia Hill funds keep their bird feeder station stocked, cover the cost of printed materials/handouts about the hawk watch for distribution to the public and for educational materials for classes that visit us. They also donate to park upkeep through a Friends group.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Team
Fly </b><b>Like an Eagle</b></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> is back again for their fifth year, comprised of Vic
Laubach, Brenda Tekin, Gabriel Mapel and Penny Warren. Their event is April 23rd
and will be raising funds for the Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch in VA and HMANA
programs.</span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZZAwxPN5RMRViJnUTWNOscPkFuKe5GeEehUznbdFcTzYn2MrXP04ciwnAA2nXriFWM0t0upEinP168uSyXA71KVXkjhM-eSYeiqmgOBLgjgsv2ZRpW4zHVApjNdHAA9P3H_Zc-YjudArQ/s1600/Rockfish+Gap+educational+panel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZZAwxPN5RMRViJnUTWNOscPkFuKe5GeEehUznbdFcTzYn2MrXP04ciwnAA2nXriFWM0t0upEinP168uSyXA71KVXkjhM-eSYeiqmgOBLgjgsv2ZRpW4zHVApjNdHAA9P3H_Zc-YjudArQ/s320/Rockfish+Gap+educational+panel.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Teammates and their new interpretive sign <div>
made possible by Hawk Watch Fund grant in 2013.</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div>
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</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Please visit <a href="http://www.hmana.org/raptorthon"><span style="color: #0563c1;">www.hmana.org/raptorthon</span></a> to support
these and other teams, to learn more about participating and to download forms.
</span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Happy spring birding!</span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike></div>
Julie Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04921010025253205978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8574782419258081396.post-8786854327281723382016-03-28T09:27:00.001-07:002016-03-28T09:27:23.093-07:00Meet the Hawkwatchers - Anna Stunkel - Bradbury Mountain, ME<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj08z-mjVhTaiIxYe9qlMPAnr2RyUAYBbKvhlHZa2pmPX7lYdIuYx7Obl1dXXUs7j8okcscchKW1SiqsL8cNSBWFMbDkEE-VHqJcn9SbRUwkY073LQTWgnVH0VAcerltReiU1yofmaydeg/s1600/DSC_0014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj08z-mjVhTaiIxYe9qlMPAnr2RyUAYBbKvhlHZa2pmPX7lYdIuYx7Obl1dXXUs7j8okcscchKW1SiqsL8cNSBWFMbDkEE-VHqJcn9SbRUwkY073LQTWgnVH0VAcerltReiU1yofmaydeg/s400/DSC_0014.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Anna Stunkel at Golden Gate Raptor Observatory</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>1 Tell us a little about your history!</b><br /> <br />I grew up in Natick, Massachusetts, and have loved birding since elementary school. My family has always loved spending time outdoors and they encouraged my interest in birding. I started getting into birding by visiting local hotspots (especially Mount Auburn Cemetery, an excellent warbler stopover site) and joined a young birders club. I was fortunate to have some wonderful mentors at Mass Audubon who took me on birding trips and let me help with passerine and saw-whet owl banding. My fascination with birds kept growing with each of these adventures. When it came time to apply for college, I knew that I wanted to study ornithology and ecology. Most of all, conservation biology and animal behavior fascinate me, so I focused my studies on those areas. I went to school at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine, where I had the opportunity to take field-based classes visiting nearby Acadia National Park, Great Duck Island, other areas of Maine, and Costa Rica. These courses were unforgettable, and I learned so much from my professors, classmates, and our adventures.<br /><br /><b>2 How long have you been counting hawks? Where have you counted before?</b><br />I've been counting hawks for three fall seasons. Just after graduating college, I did an internship working as a hawkwatcher and raptor bander at Golden Gate Raptor Observatory, in California. Before then I had little experience as a hawk counter, but instantly loved it. The site is an amazing place to observe a variety of raptors, some of which were new to me as an east coaster. The staff and volunteers at GGRO are excellent teachers and I learned so much about hawkwatching and raptor research.<br /><br /> For the past two falls, I worked as a hawkwatcher for Intermountain Bird Observatory, at Lucky Peak in Idaho. I had the opportunity to work with a great field crew, supervisors, and hawkwatch partner, and also had a chance to do more outreach work.<br /><b><br />3 Where are you counting this year? What do you like most about the watch?</b><br /><br />This spring I am counting on Bradbury Mountain, near Freeport, Maine. The count is sponsored by Freeport Wild Bird Supply (<a href="http://www.freeportwildbirdsupply.com/default.asp" target="_blank">website here</a> and Facebook Page <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Freeport-Wild-Bird-Supply/198877036808925" target="_blank">here</a>) and Leica Optics (which provides me with amazing quality optics for the duration of the season). There is a link to the hawkwatch page, which includes our <a href="http://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=616">hawkcount.org</a> page that is updated daily, on the Freeport Wild Bird Supply website.<br /><br /> I have just started the season at this site, and am very happy to be back in Maine where I am familiar with the diverse birdlife and ecology of the region. In particular, I was excited to get started at this site because education and outreach are an integral part of the program. Bradbury Mountain State Park is one of the most visited state parks in Maine, so many people come up and ask questions about the hawk count. I am also pleased that the hawkcounter is responsible for recording both raptor and non-raptor migrant numbers, thus adding useful data to the program. My supervisors, Derek and Jeannette Lovitch, own Freeport Wild Bird Supply and are highly knowledgeable regarding local areas to go birding as well as useful hawkwatching and birding ID suggestions.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZHpj74-XOEI5WXaT57w7eatwO3P16T4weyn06ETOy8T699jPCbX7uaezsYEpapMMKvXLPOmEa81JXYfPGoJkoBpOxr7uxy6eRsprLZNFDv8wxR-V89AxjYsbSm7ncRs4baLMPR9vJeNc/s1600/DSC_0704.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZHpj74-XOEI5WXaT57w7eatwO3P16T4weyn06ETOy8T699jPCbX7uaezsYEpapMMKvXLPOmEa81JXYfPGoJkoBpOxr7uxy6eRsprLZNFDv8wxR-V89AxjYsbSm7ncRs4baLMPR9vJeNc/s400/DSC_0704.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anna Stunkel and a Red-tailed Hawk </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>4 What is it that you especially like about raptors. What turned you on to hawkwatching? What was the first site you visited?</b><br /><br />I love the power, beauty, and agility of raptors. Their diversity in plumages and hunting techniques also amazes me. When I was a kid, I visited Wachusett Mountain hawkwatch in Massachusetts and became fascinated by the beauty of these birds and the sheer numbers moving through. I especially love falcons, with their fierce personalities, speed, and intelligence. Anyone is likely to feel a sense of awe watching raptor kettles, which is another one of my favorite aspects of hawkwatching. While working in Idaho, we watched large kettles each containing up to one hundred Turkey Vultures streaming overhead, and were able to share the spectacle of these often under-appreciated birds with visitors.<br /><br /><b>5 What do you like particularly about the world of hawkwatching? </b><br /><br />I love both the moments of solitude and the outreach and education involved in hawkwatch. Spending time alone on a mountain while watching birds is an excellent way to develop focus and tune in to the natural world. At the same time, one of the main reasons that I enjoy hawkwatching so much is that it provides a chance to teach visitors about these birds. I think that this aspect is just as important as collecting accurate data, especially when it comes to teaching children. Young children tend to have a wonderful enthusiasm about new and interesting things in nature, and they are the next generation who should learn to enjoy and care for the natural world.<br /><br /> Busy days are a beautiful spectacle, and I love watching large kettles. I appreciate that hawkwatching is an art, and ID is more about general impressions, flight style, and shape than it is about field marks. While it is always wonderful to appreciate the beauty of raptors up close, distant IDs provide the greatest and most challenging learning moments.<br /><br /> I love meeting a variety of people from all walks of life who volunteer their time towards hawkwatching. I have listened to some fascinating stories from these people, learned from them, and enjoyed many good times.<br /><br /><b>6 Unfortunately hawks don’t migrate year round. What do you do for the rest of the year?</b><br /><br />During the rest of the year, I work for other seasonal fieldwork positions as often as possible. These have included work on seabird islands (Petit Manan, Maine and Southeast Farallon, California), and a woodpecker project (Hastings Natural History Reserve, California). Each of these projects has provided a great learning opportunity and the chance to work in beautiful places. During the winter, I work as an artist and elementary school substitute teacher.</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhpRRVRYz0iX4avGb-4JiNe8fvkic4q5pS1-395tqE7PsWvE0smoY6Ho3eSMBhRtxKvTeHtAuTZCGrzfTNi2zJEN_T8JHhnCXg7OXSbwvwz47NG9pZ5707RErFdLTlxwUD-LxuPJzNttk/s1600/IMG_20160313_173107110.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhpRRVRYz0iX4avGb-4JiNe8fvkic4q5pS1-395tqE7PsWvE0smoY6Ho3eSMBhRtxKvTeHtAuTZCGrzfTNi2zJEN_T8JHhnCXg7OXSbwvwz47NG9pZ5707RErFdLTlxwUD-LxuPJzNttk/s400/IMG_20160313_173107110.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anna's Office at Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch</td></tr>
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<div>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>7 If you could go and count hawks anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?</b><br /><br />I would love to see the River of Raptors in Veracruz. It would also be amazing to visit Eilat, Israel, which is one of the best migration sites in the world for raptors as well as other birds. The photos of sheer raptor numbers at these sites are stunning! There are so many other places that I would like to visit and count hawks. Others include the Goshute Mountains, Hawk Ridge, and Cape May.<br /><br /><b>8 What do you like to do when you aren’t watching hawks (or birding)?</b><br /><br />I love to draw and paint, and think that sketching is a great way to become familiar with birds (as well as other wildlife and plants) and make careful observations. I also enjoy horseback riding, looking for reptiles and amphibians, and listening to ‘70s music. <br /><br /><b>9 Do you have a personal blog, website, flickr page etc that we can keep up with your adventures?</b><br /><br />I have a deviantart account where I post artwork and fieldwork photos (<a href="http://corvus16.deviantart.com/">link here</a>), along with an art blog (<a href="https://annastunkelart.wordpress.com/">link here</a>). </span></div>
Luke Tillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885222370605522772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8574782419258081396.post-83320725542364618092016-03-22T12:14:00.002-07:002016-03-22T12:14:52.583-07:00More HawkCount reviewers needed!<div class="MsoNormal">
The HMANA Data Committee and Board have re-initiated a
review of HawkCount data entry in an effort to reduce errors and encourage
documentation for rare species observations. Prior to the shift to digital data
entry, HawkCount paper forms were previously reviewed for accuracy. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The reviewers listed below by state, province or region have
kindly volunteered to serve in this capacity starting in spring 2016. Because more
HawkCount sites operate during the fall migration, we will be expanding this
review process and will need additional volunteers starting in late summer
2016. Contact Gerald J. Niemi (<a href="mailto:gniemi@umn.edu">gniemi@umn.edu</a>)
if interested. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Reviewer Count Area(s) <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Zach Smith Maine,
New Hampshire, Vermont, </div>
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New Brunswick, Quebec<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Paul Roberts Connecticut,
Massachusetts<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Andy Mason New
York<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Laurie Goodrich Pennsylvania<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Holly Merker<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tom Reed Delaware,
Maryland, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
New Jersey, North Carolina, Virginia<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
John Barker Eastern
Ontario<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Markus Mika Arkansas,
Manitoba, Michigan, Minnesota, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Western Ontario, Wisconsin<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Neil Paprocki Alaska,
Arizona, Colorado<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Alan Fish California</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Arthur Green Montana,
Texas, Mexico, Central </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
and South America </div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
Carolyn Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03179182853082650546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8574782419258081396.post-82000978907692550092016-02-17T08:52:00.000-08:002016-02-17T08:52:53.785-08:00Want to See A Million Raptors?<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Join </b></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>HMANA and Pronatura-Veracruz
</b></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b></b></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>for the Hawk-Watching Trip of a Lifetime to Veracruz, </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Mexico’s River of Raptors.</b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">September 30th
to October 8th, 2016</span></b></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjmIjtPPkNNcIqRQ5T9U_T07BtpEzqeXSvY30VaM5Pa0jbBpyKcXul6E3us0bJSaUe1rQ_76cQ13yc-ZyjyOq9bF9HvoNkfna1n6-pMpEYwtP7cwUGYEVLzwzXidVa5Vpm2rT5s_5L1bTO/s1600/BW_TV_SW.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjmIjtPPkNNcIqRQ5T9U_T07BtpEzqeXSvY30VaM5Pa0jbBpyKcXul6E3us0bJSaUe1rQ_76cQ13yc-ZyjyOq9bF9HvoNkfna1n6-pMpEYwtP7cwUGYEVLzwzXidVa5Vpm2rT5s_5L1bTO/s320/BW_TV_SW.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Broad-winged, Swainsons hawks and turkey vultures swirl over Veracruz.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">There aren’t too many places on earth where you can see hundreds of thousands of raptors in a day. Veracruz, Mexico is one of them. With the right amount of luck, you could see one million raptors on this nine day tour! </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Each fall season an average of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">f<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">our and a half million hawks</i> of nearly 30
species,</b> including greater than two million Broad-winged Hawks, are
recorded from two count sites in central Veracruz, Mexico. Along with
mind-boggling numbers of other migrant bird species – Wood Storks, Anhingas,
White Pelicans, and Scissor-tailed Flycatchers among them – these raptors are
funneled into a 15-mile-wide bottleneck between the mountains and the Gulf of
Mexico. Counts in recent years have confirmed that Veracruz is host to the most
concentrated raptor migration in the world and receives over 90% of the world population
of Swainson’s and Broad-winged Hawks, and Mississippi Kites. </span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The HMANA-Pronatura tour will highlight the high diversity
and number of raptor and non-raptor migrants (including dragonflies and
butterflies – which number over one million per day!), as well as the
conservation of these species that is being led by Pronatura-Veracruz. We will
also focus on some of the region’s specialty bird species including some of the region's 25
endemics. There will be time for stops at archaeological sites such as Cortez’
first Spanish colony, and cultural immersion, including excellent local food,
throughout the tour. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Our guides will be Pronatura biologist, Eduardo Martinez, and Phil Brown, who has led HMANA tours to Costa Rica and South Florida.</span></div>
<br />
<b>Everyone should experience migration on this scale at least once in their lives! </b>We hope you will
join us.<b> Space is limited so reserve your spot today! </b>See tour
itinerary and learn more at <a href="http://www.hmana.org/"><span style="color: blue;">www.hmana.org</span></a> or<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>contact Julie Brown at <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null">brown@hmana.org</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>To see a video of broad-winged hawk migration over Veracruz, visit:</b> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-CXQXXehyw<br />
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Julie Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04921010025253205978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8574782419258081396.post-41333479891711824392016-01-13T13:05:00.000-08:002016-01-13T13:16:28.289-08:00HMANA Raptor ID Workshop 2016 - Be there or be.....<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaJ4mRvsS5Q0eU_1pOk_FNkRvJkZuD7iQ6cWNV5TGNeuaqRX25QndH2lyjpvzUCdKzFGV72Sdqgjs6ouOuMxi_rFsDgqDA69yyhv_fnHFQTGYxhTTN5q3Jh4rIPSHj0ROgSduLenwf1r8/s1600/L1000290.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaJ4mRvsS5Q0eU_1pOk_FNkRvJkZuD7iQ6cWNV5TGNeuaqRX25QndH2lyjpvzUCdKzFGV72Sdqgjs6ouOuMxi_rFsDgqDA69yyhv_fnHFQTGYxhTTN5q3Jh4rIPSHj0ROgSduLenwf1r8/s400/L1000290.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2014 HMANA ID Workshop at Braddock Bay - Luke Tiller</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Come join HMANA for perhaps the only full scale tour in the country where the specific focus is improving your hawkwatching skills. The tour takes place in Western New York State in spring for good reason: unlike Fall, Spring Migration is an intense affair packed into a relatively short space of time. This compressed migration allows us to pick up early migrants like Red-shouldered Hawks, Golden Eagles and Northern Goshawks as well as late season movers like Broad-winged Hawk all in the same week. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br />The tour is aimed at those with some experience watching hawks but will be of value to anyone from beginner level on up. Having two expert leaders allows us to focus on the specific needs of individuals and to give hands on instruction in one-on-one scenarios. Previous participants have ranged from beginner hawkwatchers all the way through to counters at well-known hawkwatches. The main requirement is enthusiasm for time watching raptors.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig3tPqkHHFaXYcZ0f9pQPHKCOUYVjhWRnZOpof1lHhO8Rb-SZusidGCjD-jxVtYF6s7HcUZFxF9sJ3LRfFAxSjYuiq51kucaTcVgJUWW1y9SyrJVy6Lm09LNoxn4FJYNEsuiYL8Qi2Z3M/s1600/_MG_0454.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig3tPqkHHFaXYcZ0f9pQPHKCOUYVjhWRnZOpof1lHhO8Rb-SZusidGCjD-jxVtYF6s7HcUZFxF9sJ3LRfFAxSjYuiq51kucaTcVgJUWW1y9SyrJVy6Lm09LNoxn4FJYNEsuiYL8Qi2Z3M/s400/_MG_0454.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rough-legged Hawk from HMANA ID Workshop 2015 - Luke Tiller</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">As well as working on identification of raptors we will focus, where possible, on aging and sexing birds as well as discussing subspecies and plumage types. As well as being instructional tour guides Frank Nicoletti and Luke Tiller pride themselves on providing a fun and relaxed atmosphere conducive to learning about identifying hawks in flight. </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Visits to the BBRR banding stations will allow us to get up close and personal with a number of raptors and study some key identifiers in hand. </span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br />Check out these incredible days from tours past: This one included 5000 raptors including 46 Rough-legged Hawks and two dark morph Swainson’s Hawks (<a href="http://hawkcount.org/day_summary.php?rsite=353&ryear=2015&rmonth=04&rday=10" target="_blank">hawkcount report here</a>), and this one almost 5000 raptors including a sweep of all possible buteos: 67 Rough-legged Hawks, Swainson’s Hawk, Black Vulture, Krider’s and dark Red-tailed Hawks (<a href="http://hawkcount.org/day_summary.php?rsite=353&ryear=2014&rmonth=04&rday=10" target="_blank">hawkcount report here</a>). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkNWMcsT6q-2c2m0pQ_ZF1M1B8-4zDM7GNDXKHVs2BH6OfjhGH6B0HJQYXNk65DhJtclIRtsRNh5FXlaATD2z8aJ_LugES_Tw6wnNB0GE6gbq-lNgYNoNjxpMzxG71v0nprHdNPLLLnro/s1600/_MG_4667.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkNWMcsT6q-2c2m0pQ_ZF1M1B8-4zDM7GNDXKHVs2BH6OfjhGH6B0HJQYXNk65DhJtclIRtsRNh5FXlaATD2z8aJ_LugES_Tw6wnNB0GE6gbq-lNgYNoNjxpMzxG71v0nprHdNPLLLnro/s400/_MG_4667.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saw-whet Owl from HMANA ID Workshop 2014 - Luke Tiller</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">This year the tour is pushed back to a slightly later start date. This means that we have a better chance of encountering one of those big Broad-winged Hawk days that Braddock Bay is known for. </span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">You can read tour leader Luke Tiller’s write up of a Braddock Bay flight that fell into this tours time frame in a previous season on his blog (<a href="http://underclearskies.com/2011/04/13/anatomy-of-a-braddock-big-day-april-11th/" target="_blank">here</a>), and if the birding gods really smile upon us there is always the chance of something like this 37K raptor flight being repeated(<a href="http://underclearskies.com/2012/04/21/another-braddock-bay-big-day-so-near-yet-so-far/" target="_blank">read about it on Luke's blog here</a>).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br />Frank and Luke have both counted at Braddock Bay and have intimate knowledge of the region and the weather systems which makes sure that the group gets absolutely the best experience on any specific day. When flight conditions are not optimal we will visit places like Montezuma NWR, a great site for raptors and more,</span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> to see where much of the work was undertaken to reintroduce Bald Eagles to New York State and beyond.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiM9dBTzXs-JBNz3xHxCUKKPwtR2hbtpjgCO1_wcxuwJyZCLJfkj5TAKNnhtSlzBQAw7P3jTCULpZbnEm0p6hOaLJQZDelIq8_vGkon7nHntcbEGGClkvQqUr9njQp6vVafOx2FakwRIg/s1600/L1000370.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiM9dBTzXs-JBNz3xHxCUKKPwtR2hbtpjgCO1_wcxuwJyZCLJfkj5TAKNnhtSlzBQAw7P3jTCULpZbnEm0p6hOaLJQZDelIq8_vGkon7nHntcbEGGClkvQqUr9njQp6vVafOx2FakwRIg/s400/L1000370.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">2014 HMANA ID Workshop at Braddock Bay - Luke Tiller</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">As well as diurnal raptors we will be looking out for owls, visiting the BBRR Saw-whet banding operation, keeping our eyes peeled for a late Snowy Owl and checking out places where Short-eared Owl often gather to hunt. As well as all the raptors we will hopefully witness some of the incredible sky-blackening flights of passerines that can be seen along the Great Lakes, and get some instruction on IDing these birds too, as well as looking for specialist species like Trumpeter Swans, Sandhill Cranes and a wealth of wintering and migrant birds.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br />You can check out reports from previous year’s tours on our website and </span><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">find out how to make bookings for the tour (<a href="http://www.hmana.org/raptor-id-workshop-2016/" target="_blank">here</a>). You can check out a photo album of some of last years tour (<a href="https://flic.kr/s/aHska6YRxd" target="_blank">here</a>).</span><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><br /><br /> </span></div>
Luke Tillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885222370605522772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8574782419258081396.post-21948654131319748732015-12-23T10:33:00.001-08:002015-12-23T11:23:56.242-08:00HMANA Raptors of the Rio Grande Valley Tour 2016<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.8px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwCft1Jz6IN45X_DuUBdujSvXBE4RtE9pt6i7JFcfZz5z2QmMCbndetZF3rap72WuUKeFsNgU9772cNZ5at_g8xP5Ra4TiLKcGEpi-KktzES4vkk1Al7RIjmdC2PPCR3nOdvyFehyvRiA/s1600/_MG_3500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwCft1Jz6IN45X_DuUBdujSvXBE4RtE9pt6i7JFcfZz5z2QmMCbndetZF3rap72WuUKeFsNgU9772cNZ5at_g8xP5Ra4TiLKcGEpi-KktzES4vkk1Al7RIjmdC2PPCR3nOdvyFehyvRiA/s400/_MG_3500.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Great Kiskadee - Luke Tiller</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.8px;">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Monday, November 9</span><sup>th</sup><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> 2015</span></b></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.8px;">
Meeting at our hotel in Harlingen, TX the obvious and
planned first stop for our tour was out east towards the coastal plain that held one of our key target species: Aplomado Falcon. Counting against
heading towards the proposed Aplomado site was the fact that multiple birders
had found their cars recently stranded in the once dirt, now Battle of the Somme-esque mud, road that had
been created by Hurricane Patricia as she’d passed through. There was also the
allure of a Hook-billed Kite sighting a few days previously to our west in McAllen. <span style="font-size: 12.8px;">I had warned participants that they key to a successful trip would be a little flexibility and t</span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">he morning therefore started with plans thrown out the
window and the group racing towards Anzalduas Park. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12.8px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Right on the border, the park
provides both a great view of the river and thanks to the dam road
levy a great site to look for raptors. </span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">As we arrived at the park we were soon stumbling upon the
first specialties of the region with Cackling </span><b style="font-size: 12.8px;">Great Kiskadees</b><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> and garrulous </span><b style="font-size: 12.8px;">Green
Jays</b><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">. As we approached the levy I noticed a new bunch of signage warning
people not to go up on it. Assuming they just meant cars I breezed past only to
get stopped by the passing border patrol. Apparently the new rules meant no
foot traffic either. I asked the officer if we stayed off the road itself whether
we could stand right at the very top of the entrance ramp to the levy. Thankfully the officer said yes as our new view was affording us some nice looks at some highly
prized species including stunning</span><b style="font-size: 12.8px;"> Summer Tanager</b><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">s and </span><b style="font-size: 12.8px;">Altamira Oriole</b><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">s. Not
long after our run in with border patrol, out towards Mexico we spotted
what must be the holy grail for raptor fans in Southern Texas: the oddly
paddle-winged, long-tailed shape and strangely acrobatic flight of a brilliant
</span><b style="font-size: 12.8px;">Hook-billed Kite</b><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">! This was the bird we had come for. Found all the way south to
Northern Argentina, the range of the species barely touches the tip of this
little tropical part of Texas and is even here rarely seen. It is possible to
come here for many years and not see one, so this was an incredible start to the trip!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyBk4lWJvc2ukFAEU-1K9NT_3QwVNgpb7gH8BvhmImqn13QbR9WS9wT4R5hc5EEvOWdyP5ay00GBvClfup887cMMI5Crii0X3VWEbuWEE_YoA2Xbw1HVMBAnR9NDQbwykpSpQOJ5Amu6s/s1600/_MG_3604.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyBk4lWJvc2ukFAEU-1K9NT_3QwVNgpb7gH8BvhmImqn13QbR9WS9wT4R5hc5EEvOWdyP5ay00GBvClfup887cMMI5Crii0X3VWEbuWEE_YoA2Xbw1HVMBAnR9NDQbwykpSpQOJ5Amu6s/s400/_MG_3604.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Green Jay - Luke Tiller</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">After all enjoying scope views of the flying kite we decided
to see whether we could see the bird from closer to the river and scout out
what else was in the park. Beyond the kites there was much else here to enjoy
including a couple of locally rare birds that seemed to have been swept in by
Hurricane Patricia: </span><b style="font-size: 12.8px;">Greater Pewee</b><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> and </span><b style="font-size: 12.8px;">Dusky-capped Flycatcher</b><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">. Both species are
also pretty limited in their US range to Arizona and New Mexico so were
not birds we had anticipated on the tour. After these exciting out-of-place
finds we stumbled on another couple of unlikely birds: first up were two </span><b style="font-size: 12.8px;">Audubon’s Oriole</b><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">s. Though they are a specialty of the area, Audubon's Oriole are rarely found this far east and were in fact
were just the second sighting of this species at this famous and incredibly
heavily birded park. The second rarity was something more prosaic: a little
flock of four American Robins. There are a number of species that though common
almost everywhere else on the continent that do not often reach this little tip of
the USA and </span><b style="font-size: 12.8px;">American Robin</b><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> is one of them (ditto House Finch, Mallard, Common Grackle, American Crow….). While not that exciting to most birders, the robins were rare enough to trip the eBird
filters locally. </span><o:p style="font-size: 12.8px;"></o:p><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">We were able to share the sightings with a couple of other birders too, which is part of the fun and community that is birding in the Rio Grande Valley.</span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> </span></div>
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After an incredible start to the trip we switched
back to our itinerary. First was a stop at a secondary site that I had seen Aplomado
Falcon at a few times before, but unfortunately this time we had no luck. From
there we headed on to South Padre Island. Unfortunately the most interesting
bird there (a Swainson’s Warbler) had perished at the hands (or hooked bill) of
a Loggerhead Shrike the day before, but a couple of quick stops had soon brought
us nice looks at some local beauties including <b>Scissor-tailed Flycatche</b>rs galore.
Our main quarry though was a few shoreline dwelling species and we were not to
be disappointed as we picked up a bevy of stunning herons and egrets including
<b>Least Bittern</b>, <b>Roseate Spoonbill</b> and <b>Reddish Egret</b>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Other highlights included a couple of passing <b>Merlin</b>s and a
rather nice stop for lunch at a somewhat upscale burger bar! Our day ended with
us stopping to check for Aplomados on the way back to our hotel, but again we
had no luck, leaving us with both an amazing day but a change of plans required
for the following morning. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPwaH4vWxOZcXaavj_qavfhJBkkXMDbBM7BpoPpeGQhxvv0Ud1W7MQ6p88DgFn7ivoUdDo9Gwcao9qTElNoo_0gnig08_x1vP0bpdmFKKuy7ldKIWsZLUJPt5yFB-HLjF9ud1mW0S9ilY/s1600/_MG_3491.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPwaH4vWxOZcXaavj_qavfhJBkkXMDbBM7BpoPpeGQhxvv0Ud1W7MQ6p88DgFn7ivoUdDo9Gwcao9qTElNoo_0gnig08_x1vP0bpdmFKKuy7ldKIWsZLUJPt5yFB-HLjF9ud1mW0S9ilY/s400/_MG_3491.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Common Pauraque - Luke Tiller</td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Tuesday November 10</span><sup>th</sup><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> 2015</span></b></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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With Aplomado Falcon distinctly not on our trip list thus
far we again switched up our itinerary and started our morning at a site that
had earlier in the week been devouring birders cars: Old Port Isabel Rd. Little
more than a dirt track, this site is renowned for Aplomado Falcon but also for
a wealth of great sparrows, shorebirds and other things. We were met on site by
a drier than expected road and a beautiful sunny sunrise: stunning. Almost
immediately we had another much desired species under out belt: the
terrifyingly ancient looking <b>Wood Stork</b> – all bald head and scimitar like bill.
As we worked away along the road we were almost always entertained: a flock of
feeding <b>Long-billed Curlew</b>s, a drab but prized <b>Cassin’s Sparrow</b> and an oddly
out of place <b>Pine Warbler</b>. We also had a wealth of raptors to accompany us
including beautiful <b>White-tailed Hawk</b>s (a local specialty), coursing harriers
and of course an abundance of Osprey. After much searching and scanning of
every fencepost we finally had our quarry: <b>Aplomado Falcon</b>. Though it was great
to see them they were somewhat distant and though we were happy to see them we
could have been happier with the views.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">As we were leaving the site I spotted a stunning (and close)
adult <b>White-tailed Hawk</b> and pulled over so that the group could get
photographs. It sat accommodatingly for a minute or so before it dropped off of
its telephone pylon perch and dive bombed a passing <b>Aplomado Falcon</b>! The falcon
buzzed past us and headed away before circling a few times to put on something
of a show! A brilliant end to the visit to this magnificent spot. </span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Like the Hook-billed Kite, the falcon can be found all the way
down to the pampas of Argentina, but again it ranges just into the tip of the
US mainly in this Texas stronghold. Extirpated from the US in the early 1950’s
the reintroduction of the bird has been successful in this part of Texas and
the American Birding Association recently changed their rules so that you can
now officially count these birds on your North American list.</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7k-P0_8zRXQOKibGZJnLo4PiXe5GgJ-XiV9IE-bB3BJaNg-OISgLRG5wvvb1Z8ee7f5GAB_aKdjW0iRMtDHQ8S1fTR2vyfGbiP2UPDUgaQ9Em8AuichNSbqQ2OKwfgjKSVRwwRLe6CBo/s1600/AO2A7251.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7k-P0_8zRXQOKibGZJnLo4PiXe5GgJ-XiV9IE-bB3BJaNg-OISgLRG5wvvb1Z8ee7f5GAB_aKdjW0iRMtDHQ8S1fTR2vyfGbiP2UPDUgaQ9Em8AuichNSbqQ2OKwfgjKSVRwwRLe6CBo/s400/AO2A7251.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">White-tailed Hawk - Steve Hendricks</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Our next stop of the day was at Estero Llano. Usually a reliable spot for a number of interesting species, we caught it at hot high noon. We managed however to dig up what was probably our main target species here a roosting <b>Common Pauraque</b>. A member of the nightjar family this cryptically colored but beautifully patterned bird is a real prize. Other highlights included a mixed roaming flock of warblers and an absolute abundance of vivacious <b>Vermilion Flycatcher</b>s.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">After a nice taqueria lunch stop we were on to our afternoon
adventures. This involved taking in a few of the little parks around Weslaco
and McAllen as we worked our way west. Here we were greeted by more warbler
flocks as well as a number of other local specialties including cheerful
<b>Black-crested Titmouse</b>, skulky thrashers of both <b>Curve-billed</b> and <b>Long-billed
</b>flavors as well as our first <b>Clay-colored Thrush</b>es and <b>Plain Chachalaca</b>s.
Chachalacas are a large and somewhat comical chicken-like bird related to guans
and curassows and their raucous calls are an integral part of the sounds of the
Rio Grande Valley.</span></div>
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We ended our evening with a few celebratory margaritas just
a stones throw from the hotel in McAllen.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVwFpj-1SafewRvAFrKx3PcSkCZA7p3IZfFtC8yksKCrrupsAYIl0b_5kfBf-0IqITTbCMC94PS3lZ4Vz0PVOka52Ru5vnTDs-LOJm0ioH6iIlc5wvf8NIdfwrav4HwugFXUruplIq6eA/s1600/AO2A7865.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVwFpj-1SafewRvAFrKx3PcSkCZA7p3IZfFtC8yksKCrrupsAYIl0b_5kfBf-0IqITTbCMC94PS3lZ4Vz0PVOka52Ru5vnTDs-LOJm0ioH6iIlc5wvf8NIdfwrav4HwugFXUruplIq6eA/s400/AO2A7865.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Harris's Hawk - Steve Hendricks</td></tr>
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<b style="font-size: 12.8px;">Wednesday, November 11<sup>th</sup> 2015</b></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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We started our morning at the famed Santa Ana NWR. Here we
were looking for raptors as well as a couple of wetland specialties. Overhead
we soon had the usual throngs of<b> Turkey Vulture</b>s, but they were rapidly joined
by a couple <b>White-tailed Hawk</b>s including one of those neat second year birds
which allowed us the ability to study it intently. There were also a couple of <b>Crested Caracaras</b> around as well and a bunch of dueling Harris’s hawks. <o:p></o:p></div>
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On the pond we soon had a couple more target species,
including <b>Least Grebe</b> and a trifecta of regularly occurring North American kingfishers with both<b> Ringed </b>and <b>Green Kingfisher </b>putting on a fine show. These two
stunning species are real crowd pleasers and are a highlights of any visit.
We also picked up a rather accommodating<b> Olive Sparrow</b> or two on our way back
to the vehicle. Great birds at one of the Rio Grande Valley’s real gems.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We continued our day with a lunch stop at Anzalduas Park.
This time it wasn’t quite as productive though we did find three highly prized
<b>Sprague’s Pipit</b>s. Unfortunately we didn’t find a Zone-tailed Hawk and to rub
salt into the wound about one million Texas Mosquitoes found us (everything is
bigger in Texas!). <o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIQXM1gwI54UaGVip7maGyY1WLiWCOtAtoU8PVDsYfDRhthVGYFLlL3DeYrbBfttiBTLFixUNoIYtIKctRoNDs1wk1tt6yIbpOmifrR14CnXKTa_lGkQAt51E4YR0k6d48ryGm1neCjDc/s1600/AO2A7609.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIQXM1gwI54UaGVip7maGyY1WLiWCOtAtoU8PVDsYfDRhthVGYFLlL3DeYrbBfttiBTLFixUNoIYtIKctRoNDs1wk1tt6yIbpOmifrR14CnXKTa_lGkQAt51E4YR0k6d48ryGm1neCjDc/s400/AO2A7609.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yellow-tipped Flasher - Steve Hendricks</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">With the day becoming almost unbearably hot and humid I
suggested a trip to the National Butterfly Center. Though by no means an expert
on Texas butterflies, the grounds of the National Butterfly center are
beautiful and worth a trip any time you are in the valley. As we pulled up to the center, I
wondered aloud to participants whether the strong southerly winds we were
experiencing that day might have brought something interesting up from Mexico. </span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Sure enough we arrived to butterfly insanity as at least
two genuine rarities had been found on site: a subtly beautiful </span><b style="font-size: 12.8px;">Yellow-tipped
Flasher</b><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> and a preposterously flashy <b>Red Rim</b>. There were plenty of other good
butterflies being turned up by the enthusiastic hordes including a </span><b style="font-size: 12.8px;">White
Scrub-hairstreak</b><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> and </span><b style="font-size: 12.8px;">Lantana Scrub-hairstreak. </b><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Other beautiful species included</span><b style="font-size: 12.8px;">
Silver-banded Hairstreak </b><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">and the stunning </span><b style="font-size: 12.8px;">Malachite</b><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">. There was even a few nice
birds around, including a mixed warbler flock that contained a </span><b style="font-size: 12.8px;">Tropical Parula</b><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">!
Hot and exhausted we called it a day early and headed back for a welcome shower
and some air conditioning before heading out for </span><b style="font-size: 12.8px;">Green Parakeets</b><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">, some dinner
and a craft beer or two in McAllen.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwmVQIY6GGdQcbOUOXsndjeNoQCwjoALtYE8RDv0AdZNjlJDuvnkf5Kvdc1wdzW8et7A5xa3qpV6YgNSTGnprl26S3Gdx3RwiUdST0nmVStMr_m0vN3ZGe5J1uohz5ZyqQgQL3aJIkaXs/s1600/_MG_3429.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwmVQIY6GGdQcbOUOXsndjeNoQCwjoALtYE8RDv0AdZNjlJDuvnkf5Kvdc1wdzW8et7A5xa3qpV6YgNSTGnprl26S3Gdx3RwiUdST0nmVStMr_m0vN3ZGe5J1uohz5ZyqQgQL3aJIkaXs/s400/_MG_3429.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pyrrhuloxia - Luke Tiller</td></tr>
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<b style="font-size: 12.8px;">Thursday, November 12<sup>th</sup> 2015</b></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Our day started pretty early as we searched for somewhere to
pick up an early morning coffee and then headed northwest to a wonderful feeder
setup along the river: Salineno. Among the now usual feeder suspects <b>Green Jay</b>,
<b>White-tipped Dove</b> and <b>Golden-fronted Woodpecker</b> we enjoyed stellar views of a
number of great birds including <b>Long-billed Thrasher </b>(which performed it’s
thrashing behavior perfectly),<b> Altamira</b> and (had it not been for an amazing
find earlier in the trip) our target bird<b> Audubon’s Oriole</b>. We also checked
along the river here which proved productive for a mixed flock or two that
produced cheeky little <b>Verdin</b> as well as <b>Clay-colored Thrush </b>in their natural
environment. Also along the river we garnered beautiful views of elegant <b>Gray
Hawk</b>s as well as a soaring adult<b> Peregrine Falcon </b>– which spooked the abundant
<b>White-winged Dove</b>s. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Next stop was a little spot I’d discovered during me couple
of days scouting the area. Though it wasn’t quite as productive as it had been
during scouting (of course) it did allow us to pick up <b>Neotropic Cormorant</b>,
<b>Cactus Wren</b> and perhaps North America’s most stunning sparrow: <b>Black-throated Sparrow</b>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdolkOJ3OCUHa-9esZnC50DiqHz8DMJVfMKtBrHZz5ZGuZroteWvx4XA03xVYNaXihS-XTor1AVbEMyXVrnNE5zKcmxQYbVhvn8O7bxlE6f8aRAsl1pUd2WXy4R493k4RAmM3KibaP-3o/s1600/_MG_3635.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdolkOJ3OCUHa-9esZnC50DiqHz8DMJVfMKtBrHZz5ZGuZroteWvx4XA03xVYNaXihS-XTor1AVbEMyXVrnNE5zKcmxQYbVhvn8O7bxlE6f8aRAsl1pUd2WXy4R493k4RAmM3KibaP-3o/s400/_MG_3635.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Long-billed Thrasher</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">The habitat dries as you head west out of the valley and so
the birds there change with it: <b>Greater Roadrunner</b>, <b>Pyrrhuloxia</b> and <b>Verdin</b>. Our
destination for the afternoon was the Max A Mandel golfcourse. Here we added to
our mode of birding transport for the trip: Golfcart. Whizzing around the
course in Laredo was almost as much fun as the birding itself. We worked hard
for<b> White-collared Seedeater</b> and were rewarded for our tenacity. A covey of
well seen<b> Northern Bobwhite</b> were new for the trip, as was a <b>Say’s Phoebe</b>.
Highlights though were of an owl kind when, one of our participants, Steve spotted a likely looking
crevice and eventually found two <b>Barn Owl</b>s inside. We ended our day being
serenaded by two <b>Great Horned Owl</b>s as they duetted on the Mexican side of the
river. They even appeared for photographs - simply magical.</span></div>
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<b style="font-size: 12.8px;">Friday November 13<sup>th</sup> 2015</b></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Our next stop was Falcon State Park. Here we searched the
scrub for sparrows and whatever else we might discover. Though <b>Scaled Quail</b>
vocalized they never showed and the one that got away was a large falcon which
was distant in poor lighting but gave more of a Prairie feel than a Peregrine
one. Down on the deck there were plenty of nice sparrows to sort through
including a bunch of <b>Vesper Sparrow</b>s, one <b>Grasshopper Sparrow</b> and even better an uncommon <b>Lark
Bunting</b>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Greater Roadrunner - Luke Tiller</td></tr>
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This was essentially our last day birding in the valley, so
we were keen to make the most of it. We briefly stopped just to look at Roma
Bluffs but were keen to get on the road to Bentsen and other sites just to see
what we could dig up. Bentsen proved somewhat productive as we turned up roving
flocks of warblers that included a nice <b>Black-throated Gray</b> and a <b>Parula</b> which
was sadly Northern rather than Tropical. After doing a fair amount of walking
we also got to ride their rather comfortable tram back to the center.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Our day ended back at the place the tour had started
Anzalduas Park, where we picked up our first <b>Eastern Bluebird</b>s and had another
visit with the continuing <b>Greater Pewee</b>. More importantly as the light began to
fade I picked up the up slurred call of a <b>Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet</b>. With a
little fussing the group were finally on the bird. This was the perfect way to
end our Rio Grande Valley portion of the trip with a specialist bird of the
region.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Whooping Cranes photobombed - Steve Hendricks</td></tr>
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<b>Saturday November 14<sup>th</sup> 2015</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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The final full day of our trip saw us winging our way north
to Rockport, Texas and a trip out on a boat with Rockport Birding and Kayak
Adventures. Whooping Cranes are one of the rarest birds in North America (even
though they have bounced back to about 600 individuals from an all-time low of
about 20 in the 1940’s!!!!) and one of the most compelling too. Standing at
about five feet and with a wingspan of seven feet they are impressive birds.
Though sometimes visible on land the most intimate way to see them is on a boat
out on Aransas NWR. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The boat also provides the opportunity to see a bunch of
other cool birds including a couple of <b>Sandwich Tern</b>s that paralleled the boat
as we headed out to Aransas. Our first stop included a sheltered shorebird spot
that the Army Core of Engineers created with dredge spoils and we had soon
picked up a few nice ones including <b>Marbled Godwit</b> and<b> American Oystercatcher</b>.
As well as the Sandwich Terns their were a few other gull and tern species
loafing on the islands including <b>Forster’s Tern</b>s and the odd but splendid
looking <b>Black Skimmer</b>s. <o:p></o:p></div>
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As we got out to Aransas the neat sightings came thick and
fast: our first distant cranes, a rather healthy looking coyote and a
<b>White-tailed Hawk</b> that was eating lunch on the wing! Eventually we tracked down
a close family group of spectacular <b>Whooping Crane</b>s. A moment that made the
whole drive north worth it. Even better we got shots of the group being
photobombed by one of the islands wintering harriers: very cool!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhswdng0BHtZbdx6YHi-1Bh6IgiW-qy7Z05rVgoEEKrLxJh3FvxihShc8wi3OKuG8PRGEvbKkf92R_Ut9n3WcRdHb5bt3Xq6ij8-m2QAcGn7kLT4Ni3x894I1iD_lzFXPkQai4I15C0rCY/s1600/photo+%25287%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="98" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhswdng0BHtZbdx6YHi-1Bh6IgiW-qy7Z05rVgoEEKrLxJh3FvxihShc8wi3OKuG8PRGEvbKkf92R_Ut9n3WcRdHb5bt3Xq6ij8-m2QAcGn7kLT4Ni3x894I1iD_lzFXPkQai4I15C0rCY/s400/photo+%25287%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hazel Bazemore Hawkwatch - Luke Tiller</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">As we worked our way back we picked up a few more birds for
our ever growing trip list before heading for lunch. With just a few hours of
the tour left we decided that there could be no more perfect way to end a HMANA
Tour than to head over to the Hazel Bazemore Hawkwatch. We were met by the
friendly faces of Kevin, Erik and Dane and happily whiled away the next couple
of hours in their company talking about hawks and hawkwatching across the
county. A fine end to a fun trip and not without a few more avian rewards.
First our smallest bird of the trip, a Rufous Hummingbird and our nineteenth
and final raptor of the tour a late <b>Broad-winged Hawk</b>. A nice relaxing end to a
good trip spent in fine company including the cute little Javelina family that
came to hang out at the hawkwatch feeders.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUKpGsHo2YbYsqhZfaCvoPNwM6Ft1ExrSxpul_Q8vQeAL9AvEWi2nrssJWlfWtW4k9Yhrso4_EY3X2e-pMOxnqjxd8s8KqXyu4pKmusuOXEoExq7rtwWV_4bXVNaBPmeZ27IidhVUkoRU/s1600/aplomado_falcon_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUKpGsHo2YbYsqhZfaCvoPNwM6Ft1ExrSxpul_Q8vQeAL9AvEWi2nrssJWlfWtW4k9Yhrso4_EY3X2e-pMOxnqjxd8s8KqXyu4pKmusuOXEoExq7rtwWV_4bXVNaBPmeZ27IidhVUkoRU/s400/aplomado_falcon_2.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aplomado Falcon - Steve Hendricks</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">That evening we headed out for our final meal at the area’s
best BBQ joint. We reflected on a fun and action packed week and reminisced
about cool birds and exciting sightings. In all we had managed an impressive 187
bird species over the week that included the two rarest raptors in the United
States: Hook-billed Kite and Aplomado Falcon. We had also birded by boat, by car, by tram and by golf cart: next time we need to jump on a train just to round out the experience.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12.8px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">You can find out about upcoming HMANA Tours on our website (<a href="http://www.hmana.org/event/" target="_blank">here</a>)</span></div>
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Luke Tillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885222370605522772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8574782419258081396.post-86870553063266496212015-12-16T04:00:00.000-08:002015-12-16T10:16:02.688-08:00Hawk Watch Fund - Help your watchsite be all it can be!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4XVe2277wivPJLMsFPYzknrGErZxWoX6SebX1QzWun6BrJlLVYETHaKppOwo91D7_e_9icqnrK6bO7xVH7oRzjBZbYdIhwB-nFo1woqer3RuKiX_tPT8uE5qWH6AKN62DPL6pt1C-7Cq_/s1600/Rockfish+Gap+educational+panel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4XVe2277wivPJLMsFPYzknrGErZxWoX6SebX1QzWun6BrJlLVYETHaKppOwo91D7_e_9icqnrK6bO7xVH7oRzjBZbYdIhwB-nFo1woqer3RuKiX_tPT8uE5qWH6AKN62DPL6pt1C-7Cq_/s400/Rockfish+Gap+educational+panel.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2013 Hawk Watch Fund winners display a new interpretive sign at Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch, VA.</td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you coordinate a hawk watch site, chances are you have ideas milling around your head on how to make improvements. Maybe you have hopes for hiring an educator, a new tally board or platform to see over all those trees. I know I often brainstorm about all the great things I’d like to offer to our thousands of visitors each fall at the Pack Monadnock Hawk Watch in NH. New raptor silhouettes for education programs or an interpretive sign labeling all the mountains in the landscape would be great!</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Whether sites are managed by state agency, non-profit or one or more raptor enthusiasts, we all seem to share the same challenge…finding ways to sustain our counts. We all seem to be struggling financially in one way or another. That is why HMANA created the </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hawk Watch Fund</span><b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></b></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">to offer support to the hawk watching community. The purpose of this Fund is to provide grants through the production of educational materials and displays, construction and maintenance of viewing platforms, hiring of hawk watchers, or purchase of equipment. The grants are made through a competitive application process and judged annually by a committee appointed by HMANA.\</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Last year’s winner was Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: inherit;">in Duluth, MN. They received $1,000</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: inherit;">in support of a Migration Monitoring Count Traineeship last fall which was a great success.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Applications may be submitted between </span><b style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">December 1, 2015-February 15, 2016</span></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> and grants will be announced and applicants informed by </span><b style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">April</span></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><b style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">1, 2016.</span></b><br />
<span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Please see </span></span><span lang="EN-CA"><a href="http://www.hmana.org/"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">www.hmana.org</span></span></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> for guidelines and application. </span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span lang="EN-CA"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Good luck!</span></div>
</span></span><br />
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Julie Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04921010025253205978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8574782419258081396.post-50942289661615430552015-11-02T11:49:00.001-08:002015-11-02T11:49:36.859-08:00Meet the Hawkwatchers - Ryan MacLean - Quaker Ridge<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ryan MacLean and Friend</td></tr>
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<b style="background-color: white; color: #373e4d; line-height: 13.9636px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">1/ Tell us a little about your history!</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I grew up just about an hour north of NYC in Katonah NY. As a kid I developed a huge love of raptors, taking out pretty much every library book I could that had pictures of them and going to as many raptor centers and falconry shows as I could to watch them up close. Then when I was 10 I went to Mount Peter Hawkwatch in Warwick NY and instantly became hooked on watching them in the wild instead of captivity. I remember it was a late September day (post Broad-Wing season) so it wasn't an epic day numbers wise, but seeing 10+ different species of hawks in their element was enough to blow my young mind. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A couple years later I discovered that Quaker Ridge Hawk Watch in Greenwich CT was only 15 minutes from where I lived so I started going there pretty much every day after school. Over the next several years I basically received my hawkwatching education by sitting on the lawn there watching and learning. I went to Bard College in Dutchess County NY where I studied music, but I continued to bird very frequently while I was there and always made time to get back down to Quaker Ridge for Broad-winged Hawk season. After I graduated in 2013 Quaker Ridge was seeking a counter (some guy named Luke Tiller had decided to leave and head to California) so I immediately applied and was accepted. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ryan MacLean, Ted Gilman, John Hannan, Rosabel Miro at Quaker Ridge</td></tr>
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<b style="color: #373e4d; line-height: 13.9636px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Where are you counting this year? </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Three years later I'm now in my third season counting at Quaker Ridge. Each season has had a distinct set of highlights, with my first year having nice Broad-winged Hawk numbers and last year having a record crushing number of Red-Shouldered Hawks (1,046 birds). Our hawkcount page can be found here (<a href="http://hawkcount.org/month_summary.php?r=on&rsite=149&go=Go+to+site" target="_blank">link</a>) as well as our Facebook page here (<a href="https://www.facebook.com/QuakerRidgeHawkWatch/" target="_blank">link</a>). Last year I even created an Instagram page for the hawk watch to share some of our great bird photographers' pictures of hawks we see. As of now I think we're only the second hawkwatch to create an Instagram and I hope more do in the years to come. You can view the page here (l<a href="https://instagram.com/qridgehawks/" target="_blank">ink</a>).</span></div>
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<b style="color: #373e4d; line-height: 13.9636px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Tell us what you like most about the watch you are currently at? </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The variety and numbers of each species can be incredible at certain times during the season. While some hawkwatches are strictly ridgeline concentrations of birds and others are coastal, Quaker Ridge is really a combo of both since we're at the very bottom of a line of ridges that extends southward through Connecticut and only 6 miles from Long Island Sound. You can get a great push of Broad-Wings and then a late day falcon flight as an added bonus. Over the last few years, we've also experienced an unprecedented increase in Red-Shouldered Hawks. From late October through November we've witnessed almost mini Broad-winged like flights of Shoulders often in kettles of 10 or 20 birds. This makes sitting out in the cold extremely rewarding even late into the season. Since I'm housed on the property during the season I also frequently wake up early to catch early morning warbler flights, which can often be excellent. Even when it's a slow day the hawkwatch lawn is always such a relaxing place to hang out at and the regulars that come out to the watch are a great bunch. We even had a family of bobcats visit us a couple years ago.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg30QBYnscCw4rMGnA2vOZkk8s4dfamFwEj6jUXz9wJGmQfRVF4XwWprJWIAr4uhKevt-6zOpYRmTh-nz_iOswExTfLvLToywGtUiaxBeSZjeKF712fvVAT5iGqUJfvST8kPZj5NSl4xSI/s1600/merlin3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg30QBYnscCw4rMGnA2vOZkk8s4dfamFwEj6jUXz9wJGmQfRVF4XwWprJWIAr4uhKevt-6zOpYRmTh-nz_iOswExTfLvLToywGtUiaxBeSZjeKF712fvVAT5iGqUJfvST8kPZj5NSl4xSI/s400/merlin3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Merlin: Quaker Ridge - Luke Tiller</td></tr>
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<b style="color: #373e4d; line-height: 13.9636px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What is it that you especially like about raptors?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">To me they're the most free-spirited of all the birds but at the same time the hardest working. Since they're at the top of the food chain they possess this carefree yet determined attitude that always rubs off on me, particularly during migration. They have incredible distances to travel yet thanks to the power of thermals and updrafts they get the joyride of a lifetime from Quebec to Ecuador every year. But at the same time, one misstep along the way could cost them their life. In a way viewing the migration and appreciating it makes you live in the moment and at the same time appreciate that fragility. I was really drawn in to how therapeutic hawkwatching could be but at the same time make you work hard.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #373e4d; line-height: 13.9636px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What do you like particularly about the world of hawkwatching? The spectacle? The ID challenges? The camaraderie of being at a hawkwatch? The outreach? Something else?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Over the past several years of counting I've really come to love the overall process of identification by impression. At Quaker Ridge we get many very high birds due to our low elevation, which has made me learn to appreciate and acquaint myself with the shapes of the birds at that altitude. Above all it makes a Merlin zipping by you point blank even more jaw-dropping. It also makes you sit and think about the magnitude of just how far the birds are going and how we can possibly bridge communities and cultures in order to ensure their protection after they leave the continent. At Audubon Greenwich we've made connections with numerous Audubon organizations in Central/South America and as a result cooperated together in conservation efforts focused on hawks. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnHXbmVj1uFwUzRGez7M_tfwOVKsNe8NsSB-n5Oic_X7ny3WbZVOUNjTYH4L1n-d_qasJCujVs3dBmUTzNn0gjCm7xRnTraby49NOU-kOnitVkG8YUxXg90xevTh35yubMzQT1DQD3OVw/s1600/osfly2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnHXbmVj1uFwUzRGez7M_tfwOVKsNe8NsSB-n5Oic_X7ny3WbZVOUNjTYH4L1n-d_qasJCujVs3dBmUTzNn0gjCm7xRnTraby49NOU-kOnitVkG8YUxXg90xevTh35yubMzQT1DQD3OVw/s400/osfly2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Olive-sided Flycatcher Quaker Ridge - Luke Tiller</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I also love how hawkwatching can be such a universal form of birding since its easy to share with people and get them excited about it. I've seen many non-birder friends and many visitors to the Audubon Center become instantly hooked after viewing a kettle of Broad-winged Hawks or a Bald Eagle. If you spend enough time at a hawkwatch you get to know enough people that it becomes a great social gathering and reunion of sorts each season too. You get excited not only to see the hawks but old friends every fall.</span><br />
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<b style="color: #373e4d; line-height: 13.9636px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Unfortunately hawks don’t migrate year round. What do you do for the rest of the year? </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I spend a lot of my non-hawkwatching/birding time focusing on my other love of music. I play guitar, drums, bass, mandolin and keyboards and write/record my own material with my band Meadowhawks and I've played/studied in many other groups ranging from rock bands, jazz groups and orchestras. My ultimate dream is to have enough success as a musician to tour frequently and bird as much as I can along the way, even using my platform as an artist/performer to make the people aware of issues like bird/habitat conservation that aren't really talked about in the music world. This past year I also worked at Audubon Greenwich's summer camp, which is a great program for kids to learn about and observe nature. Some of the kids that came to the camp are now actually coming to Quaker Ridge Hawkwatch and getting really into hawks, so it looks like the future is in good hands.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNRfdnp6byJK00GkyfmMDp4QutUsthLEB-SL5gELQGkgxDWJ5Vfzp013i58UQic6G9a5ti5VOkMnXnpfoy_b5k_NgHaeKwAoYzb75Zx0gNH7J_lAIc8svqvGRx7ZH9d-d9iZAlgafE3sM/s1600/mg_2564.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNRfdnp6byJK00GkyfmMDp4QutUsthLEB-SL5gELQGkgxDWJ5Vfzp013i58UQic6G9a5ti5VOkMnXnpfoy_b5k_NgHaeKwAoYzb75Zx0gNH7J_lAIc8svqvGRx7ZH9d-d9iZAlgafE3sM/s400/mg_2564.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saw Whet Owl: Quaker Ridge - Luke Tiller</td></tr>
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<b style="color: #373e4d; line-height: 13.9636px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If you could go and count hawks anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Last year I had the pleasure of meeting Rosabel Miro, the executive director of Panama Audubon and one of the hawkwatchers at Panama City's Ancon Hill. We were floored to learn that last year they counted two million raptors in one day including a million Turkey Vultures and hundreds of thousands of Broad-winged Hawks and Swainson's. I don't know how I could ever possibly manage to count that many birds but I would absolutely love to go there and witness something like that in person. Cape May, Duluth or Corpus Christi also come to mind since not only are hawks a spectacle at those places but so is the entire bird migration in general. </span></div>
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<b style="color: #373e4d; line-height: 13.9636px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">What do you like to do when you aren’t watching hawks (or birding)?
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">If there aren't any hawks to be seen I'm usually out chasing warblers, sparrows, shorebirds, ducks, gulls, butterflies or whatever else is around. I also have a major soft spot for owls and you can easily get me out at <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2131640335" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">2 AM</span></span> for a Christmas Bird Count to go owling. When I'm not birding or exploring the natural world I'm usually playing/writing/recording music or going to see concerts with friends. Aside from that I enjoy British comedy, baked goods and hard cider.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiolThT8G-SV_LW3_7aJrdJuYvFQAbkRUE5xk_HcxmEvMIfSbUPcml-qlcqkXVOmpiC4WbVZ2zrr09BeJ5rhQmyyDA1ugRsWUhF4iwJABOON6vioLSeqvbFIXdPNqNY4waVjkH23JE9cZ8/s1600/bobcatkitties.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiolThT8G-SV_LW3_7aJrdJuYvFQAbkRUE5xk_HcxmEvMIfSbUPcml-qlcqkXVOmpiC4WbVZ2zrr09BeJ5rhQmyyDA1ugRsWUhF4iwJABOON6vioLSeqvbFIXdPNqNY4waVjkH23JE9cZ8/s400/bobcatkitties.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bobcats at Quaker Ridge - Stefan Martin</td></tr>
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<b style="color: #373e4d; line-height: 13.9636px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Do you have a personal blog, website, flickr page etc that we can keep up with your adventures?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">You can check out my band Meadowhawks at our website (<a href="http://www.meadowhawksmusic.com/" target="_blank">here</a>) or our bandcamp (<a href="http://www.meadowhawks.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">website here</a>). I'm always looking to connect with fellow hawkwatchers/birders so feel free to friend me on Facebook as well (<a href="https://www.facebook.com/rmaclean1" target="_blank">personal page here</a>) . I also recently created a facebook group for birders like me in their 20s called '20something Birders' since I feel like birders in our age group haven't really had a place to connect. Its still kind of in the infant stages but hopefully it'll become a fun meeting-place for us college/post-college bird lovers (<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/448369795325540/" target="_blank">link here</a>). </span></div>
Luke Tillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885222370605522772noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8574782419258081396.post-80003677796185902392015-10-30T13:35:00.000-07:002015-10-30T13:39:42.074-07:00Hawkwatching Across The Globe - Georgia (the country!)<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222;">Continuing our series introducing HMANA members to hawkwatches beyond the Americas here is a little information about the incredible raptor migration through Batumi, Georgia. With season counts of over a million raptors of thirty different species and day counts of over 100,000 raptors it's easy to see why this site is becoming more and more popular with birders. Thanks to this years count coordinator Aki Aintila for both the accompanying photographs as well as translating his answers from his native Finnish to English for us!</span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from Station one - Aki Aintila</td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">1.</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tell us a little about your watch.</span></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Our watch is held at two count stations in the north side of Batumi. Count station one is located in the village of Sakhalvasho and Count station two in the village of Shuamta, approximately 3 kilometers apart from each other. We use radio communication between the two stations during the count.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">The count season lasts from August </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">17th until</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> October </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">16th</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">. Both count stations are manned daily during the season, except for days of really heavy rain and severe thunderstorms. The pilot count was conducted in 2007 and since 2008 we have run the count annually.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222;">We rely on volunteer counters who cover their own expenses (travels, food and accommodation costs). For count coordinators, the project covers their travel and other expenses.</span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgByPw3BlcSQg0rKsijM7zZ27rgjStQwXjSdbnmWiGTmozoaoyDqSI-jKeZ85AFWHl7r02yPxL5-t8wp_sB8TlVPAOKgpsoHaqr4YoBgcLG3K0QCWtLthElRQwlnEuGja_4NZIMrTKfGkM/s1600/AAI-5492+-+Honey+Buzzard%252C+adult+male.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgByPw3BlcSQg0rKsijM7zZ27rgjStQwXjSdbnmWiGTmozoaoyDqSI-jKeZ85AFWHl7r02yPxL5-t8wp_sB8TlVPAOKgpsoHaqr4YoBgcLG3K0QCWtLthElRQwlnEuGja_4NZIMrTKfGkM/s400/AAI-5492+-+Honey+Buzzard%252C+adult+male.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Honey Buzzard - Aki Aintila</td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">2.</span><span style="line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;">What is the most numerous raptor species seen at your count?</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The most numerous species is the European Honey Buzzard. This season's total in reached almost 590 000 individuals. During the years with the highest counts the season's total can reach over 650 000 individuals. The peak of this migration of Honey Buzzards is in the end of August and beginning of September.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b>3. </b></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>What are the most sought after?</b>
</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">One of the most sought after species for visiting birders is the Crested Honey Buzzard as Batumi is one of the best spots to see this Asian species in the Western Palearctic. Counters and ecotourists also enjoy seeing Pallid Harriers, Saker Falcons and aquila eagles like Greater Spotted, Steppe and Imperial Eagles.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Black Kite "kettle" - Aki Aintila</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>4.</b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b> Do you band (note referred to as "ringing" in Europe) raptors too?</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">BRC is not running it's own ringing projects at the moment, but we collaborate with other organizations and people. Our fellow organization SABUKO (</span><a href="http://www.sabuko.org/" rel="noreferrer" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.sabuko.org</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">) runs bird ringing activities, including ringing of small raptors.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><b>5. </b></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Do you just count raptors or are you counting other bird species as well?</b>
</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">We focus on counting raptors, but we also count some soaring-migrant species (Black Stork, White Stork and Common Crane) and species that are easily detected and provide additional information on the importance of the Batumi bottleneck, like European Roller. We also count high numbers of Bee-Eaters and Swallows if resources allow us to do so, and record interesting observations, like rare species or huge flocks of Herons, Egrets and shorebirds.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwNlndZL2acEQCSacq-3BEZrtKmAUCo5u2DHcDbDJx90KudyQhyphenhyphenD-4aJUTfLEQK3ubcVgeyje1vuJW9WbT24tepHAKcrvQnETAJYnK0uNujHlAoTWtyWmALOw5-VN97JpYZtf6EyXzCWI/s1600/AAI-2265+-+Despite+the+Georgian+legislation%252C+hunting+raptors+is+common+in+Batumi+region+and+a+major+conservation+issue..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwNlndZL2acEQCSacq-3BEZrtKmAUCo5u2DHcDbDJx90KudyQhyphenhyphenD-4aJUTfLEQK3ubcVgeyje1vuJW9WbT24tepHAKcrvQnETAJYnK0uNujHlAoTWtyWmALOw5-VN97JpYZtf6EyXzCWI/s400/AAI-2265+-+Despite+the+Georgian+legislation%252C+hunting+raptors+is+common+in+Batumi+region+and+a+major+conservation+issue..jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No Hunting sign - Aki Aintila</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>6. </b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>What are the goals of your count?</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">The aims of BRC are in monitoring, research and conservation. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We are aiming for a long-term monitoring of the raptor populations that cross the bottleneck. We also collect additional data than just numbers of individuals per species, by identifying age and sex classes for many of the species monitored. You can read more about</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> BRC's aims and visions <a href="http://www.batumiraptorcount.org/brc/aims-and-vision" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Illegal hunting of raptors in our monitoring area is sadly a major conservation issue. Approximately 10,000 raptors are shot down in the area during every season. Long-term monitoring and data collecting is a crucial approach and together with SABUKO we work for the conservation of the bottleneck and birds that pass through it. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You can read m</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ore about hunting issues and hunting monitoring results <a href="http://www.batumiraptorcount.org/research/raptor-conservation/raptor-shooting" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://www.batumiraptorcount.org/news/drivers-shooting" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Research interests of BRC are on the results of long-term monitoring, impacts of hunting on the raptor populations and impact of weather conditions on migration patterns. Find out m</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">ore about weather impacts on migration (</span><a href="http://www.batumiraptorcount.org/research/weather-and-migration/impact-weather-conditions" style="color: #222222;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="color: #222222;">). Local flight routes and strategies (<a href="http://www.batumiraptorcount.org/research/weather-migration/local-flight-strategies-routes-and-altitudes" target="_blank">here</a>).</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnwpDNPToWZ6wuQwf7hPjbRhBeafDfkNyhWU6OsIh4RSDJdBP8sYEyoPg_HxSBOTyTLn5inb5RwG1KeIn-Z4cRggt1U8qKkyB9RDQkh6KS7WnUiD4LQsB0SV1zXQ8c6mtKGJBaHkVCPuI/s1600/AAI-9980+-+Steppe+Buzzard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnwpDNPToWZ6wuQwf7hPjbRhBeafDfkNyhWU6OsIh4RSDJdBP8sYEyoPg_HxSBOTyTLn5inb5RwG1KeIn-Z4cRggt1U8qKkyB9RDQkh6KS7WnUiD4LQsB0SV1zXQ8c6mtKGJBaHkVCPuI/s400/AAI-9980+-+Steppe+Buzzard.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Steppe Buzzard - Aki Aintila</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>7. </b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>What is the best time to visit your watch? </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">The best time to visit the area depends on what one wants to see, since the season can be roughly divided into 3 parts:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">1. Peak migration of Honey Buzzards and harriers, last week of August and first week of September. Peak days up to 100 000 birds.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">2. Most diverse season is mid-September, during the best days one can see 20 different species of raptors in one day.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">3. Peak migration of Steppe Buzzards and eagles in end of September and beginning of October. Peak days up to 50 000 birds.</span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHYSdS0xHaO25vuZLQqIanPLCUM0khXLZShkzjW5d-ggYID8QiVsfXlbQJQP4k9h6Uf2cK38wU-g0K7QDmC2t0Z3hrGcHbkAlXqUPKoo8xKa0mif9YVmX8W2ypzF8yC7uwUEWnVkFzalg/s1600/AAI-0950+-+Counters+in+Station+2+after+another+great+day+of+raptor+migration..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHYSdS0xHaO25vuZLQqIanPLCUM0khXLZShkzjW5d-ggYID8QiVsfXlbQJQP4k9h6Uf2cK38wU-g0K7QDmC2t0Z3hrGcHbkAlXqUPKoo8xKa0mif9YVmX8W2ypzF8yC7uwUEWnVkFzalg/s400/AAI-0950+-+Counters+in+Station+2+after+another+great+day+of+raptor+migration..jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Counters at Station two - Aki Aintila</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">All in all, raptor migration in Batumi offers many different rewards for visiting birders. There is the pure enjoyment of the mass migration of birds that is almost beyond imagination during peak Honey Buzzard or Steppe Buzzard migration. The variation of different species, ages and plumage from mid-September onward poses identification challenges and rewards for the birder wishing to hone their skills with Eurasian raptors in flight. There is also the reward of being able to witness an incredible </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">30 species of raptors over our season!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMvnUuo5vKMhD1K2FieWa4dxbVIA53DSw74JWo8Qca62Tm_xkFymJcJO50rBh9DWiNPamXwz1zU7UGGt1TNS6T-jYeSVYMQbBpYW__ZNwsx1DMSwAp9r_H6F-DCa79eVPH5WS0GbU6pm0/s1600/AAI-9438+-+Montagu%2527s+Harrier%252C+juvenile.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMvnUuo5vKMhD1K2FieWa4dxbVIA53DSw74JWo8Qca62Tm_xkFymJcJO50rBh9DWiNPamXwz1zU7UGGt1TNS6T-jYeSVYMQbBpYW__ZNwsx1DMSwAp9r_H6F-DCa79eVPH5WS0GbU6pm0/s400/AAI-9438+-+Montagu%2527s+Harrier%252C+juvenile.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Montagu's Harrier - Aki Aintila</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>8. </b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Can your data be viewed online, if so where?</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Our daily count results since 2008 are available on our website, were we upload our count results daily (<a href="http://www.batumiraptorcount.org/research/monitoring/raptor-count-results" target="_blank">visit the website here</a>).</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">9. </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 15.36px; white-space: pre-wrap;">If visitors wanted to visit your site where should they go to find out more?</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222;">Further information for participating in the monitoring or visiting the area as an ecotourist can be found<a href="http://www.batumiraptorcount.org/visit/visitor/birding-and-guesthouses-batumi" target="_blank"> here</a>, details on travel options are <a href="http://www.batumiraptorcount.org/visit/how-get-there" target="_blank">here</a> and tour options on arrival are<a href="http://www.batumibirding.com/" target="_blank"> here</a>.</span></span></span></div>
Luke Tillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885222370605522772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8574782419258081396.post-69977596684239101792015-10-10T10:37:00.000-07:002015-11-02T11:50:41.754-08:00Meet the Hawkwatchers - Erik Bruhnke - Corpus Christi Hawkwatch<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">All hawkwatches rely on the skill and enthusiasm of their respective counters. Here at HMANA we thought it would be fun to interview a few of the hard working members of the hawkcounting community and ask them everything: from how they found their passion for hawkwatching to what they like to do on their days off. First up in our series Erik Bruhnke who is counting at Corpus Christi Hawkwatch in Texas this season.<br /><br />If you have a great counter at your site this year who you think deserves a little wider recognition leave a message on the blog post or send us a message and we will send them the interview questions too!</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrbzRmZk7YsYAJIoZBf_wsojfIcIW_4r4bSnAARDzKGEiHhZsSObS-JD2j43GN6AixSQ_0hffUhG6T1NFWS5aTtR6F5OTFkl5hIjDJgbYjF4BLPZ1V5HrGwOXP19CZEM7-p6v-XC2-eZw/s1600/Erik.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrbzRmZk7YsYAJIoZBf_wsojfIcIW_4r4bSnAARDzKGEiHhZsSObS-JD2j43GN6AixSQ_0hffUhG6T1NFWS5aTtR6F5OTFkl5hIjDJgbYjF4BLPZ1V5HrGwOXP19CZEM7-p6v-XC2-eZw/s400/Erik.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Erik Brunkhe</span></td></tr>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">1 Tell us a little about your history: where did you grow up?
What got you in to birding? Did you study ornithology or something similar at
college? How long have you been counting hawks? Where have you counted before.</span></b></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I grew up in a little town of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Pewaukee</st1:place></st1:city> near <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Milwaukee</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">WI</st1:state></st1:place>.
I’ve been interested in birds and nature since I learned how to walk. My
birding spark moment was when I found a Cape May Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler,
and Bay-breasted Warbler bathing in an artesian creek just down the road from where
I was attending college (<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Northland</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">College</st1:placetype></st1:place> in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Ashland</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">WI</st1:state></st1:place>).
All three of these were life birds and being all new to boreal warblers, this
experience got me hooked in a special way. Growing up I’d go on nature walks
with my mom, dad, brother and sister on the weekends. Always had my binoculars
with me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I studied biology in college, specifically
through a natural resources degree. It was great taking all of the “ologies”
which helped establish a special sense of place. I aided teaching field
ornithology and ornithology for several years while in college, and I continued
to teach field ornithology as an adjunct professor for two additional years
after graduating. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The first six fall seasons after college I
worked at Hawk Ridge (<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Duluth</st1:city>,
<st1:state w:st="on">MN</st1:state></st1:place>) as a count interpreter, and
would aid the count on my time off throughout the fall. I have counted raptors
for the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Duluth</st1:place></st1:city>
spring count for several years. Having moved to <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Texas</st1:place></st1:state> last year, this is my first fall
counting raptors in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Texas</st1:place></st1:state>.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHkEnCnNNkGV-9udIn403GkUlZZKHN5FnPHP4YLodlKVjCCm7uFExVZpXioYgMtFip2BDpGUX4FPLzbon9-X22t45Ln6YJ33jCUiZPvcLluVJVWFtDI77N-VGfRjmNkrt0ojXjTS-v8wQ/s1600/BWHA+stream.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHkEnCnNNkGV-9udIn403GkUlZZKHN5FnPHP4YLodlKVjCCm7uFExVZpXioYgMtFip2BDpGUX4FPLzbon9-X22t45Ln6YJ33jCUiZPvcLluVJVWFtDI77N-VGfRjmNkrt0ojXjTS-v8wQ/s400/BWHA+stream.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Broad-winged Hawks - Erik Brunkhe</span></td></tr>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">2 Where are you counting this year? </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background: white; color: #141823;">I am counting at Corpus Christi HawkWatch. There F</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823;">acebook Page can be found here (<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/134197465934/" target="_blank">link</a>) and their individual page on </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823;">Hawkcount.org is here (<a href="http://hawkcount.org/month_summary.php?rsite=470" target="_blank">link</a>). </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823;">I love the massive flights of raptors at the
Corpus Christi HawkWatch. The kettles of Mississippi Kites and Broad-winged
Hawks are spectacular. The occasional Zone-tailed Hawks are a thrill and
beautiful treat to see. I’m looking forward to the massive push of Turkey
Vultures that I’ve heard about… The daily sightings of Green Jays, Inca Doves,
and Olive Sparrows are icing on the cake for this wonderful site.</span></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">4 What is it that you especially like about raptors. What
turned you on to hawkwatching? What was the first site you visited? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I really enjoy the beauty and identification of
raptors. They’re large and their colors and markings are gorgeous from so many
angles. Red-tailed Hawks are one of my favorite raptors. They are often
overlooked, and their complex array of plumages throughout <st1:place w:st="on">North
America</st1:place> is stunning. Having seen nesting Krider’s Red-tailed Hawks
in North Dakota and many forms of Red-tailed Hawks coming through Hawk Ridge
(and many birding travels elsewhere), it’s hard not to admire this wonderful
species.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I’ve been into hawkwatching since my very first
visit to Hawk Ridge (<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Duluth</st1:city>,
<st1:state w:st="on">MN</st1:state></st1:place>) during my freshman year of
college back in 2003. There was something about seeing Broad-winged Hawks
kettling overhead, a new phenomenon I had never seen before. I got to witness
one of their many Northern Goshawks in-hand from the banding station. There
were miles of colorful aspens and maples mingled through spruce tops as far as
I could see, with <st1:place w:st="on">Lake Superior</st1:place> bracing the
slope of this site. My whole first experience at Hawk Ridge was breathtaking,
and I couldn’t wait to come back and watch hawks again.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmx3stsCcdOd41moEGo2GbHeCD3Lw0IKwEATh181hSReOW2tjblNMIdmtE_Pb9y3cU-SVMJ5KQdcgu79y-ztVv-1ax7YVcDYgCwsSOzcXZ6DX8ubwl2kU9uvBHzIVTI8KNtYJ10dnEBok/s1600/ZTHA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmx3stsCcdOd41moEGo2GbHeCD3Lw0IKwEATh181hSReOW2tjblNMIdmtE_Pb9y3cU-SVMJ5KQdcgu79y-ztVv-1ax7YVcDYgCwsSOzcXZ6DX8ubwl2kU9uvBHzIVTI8KNtYJ10dnEBok/s400/ZTHA.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Zone-tailed Hawk - Erik Bruhnke</span></td></tr>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">5 What do you like particularly about the world of
hawkwatching? The spectacle? The ID challenges? The camaraderie of being at a
hawkwatch? The outreach? Something else?</span></b></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I enjoy the solitude, the beauty witnessed, and
pleasant challenge of hawkwatching. Hawkwatching has plenty of fast-paced
moments where the birds are streaming and zipping by, and hawkwatching also is
filled with many moments of soaring birds in the distance and overhead, allowing
for careful study and appreciation of each bird. The spectacle of raptor
migration is simply incredible. Raptors do something that other non-raptors
don’t. I love all birds, and raptors as a whole are quite unique.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Hawkwatching is like a treasure hunt. As we
watch raptors more and more, we learn about subtleties that makes each raptor
species that-species. Studying the behavior, structure, and form of each bird
that flies by puts a smile on my face, and it’s great to be in the presence of
other people who smile and understand the hawkwatching addiction as the
migrating raptors fly by. There is something to be said as well, about
hawkwatching at hawkwatching sites. Areas like this are great for networking
with other people who understand the world or hawkwatching, whether it be a
profession or hobby. It’s also a great teaching opportunity to point out birds
to friends and others in the area, to share the excitement of the migration.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipvPOcnMwxm9yttW-UoqrJsg6sbeV798XUU-X79eobLOe33RgkrhkDR3-msKVx6icLhkpGg7rnhZ9k3vTGU67C52ehZX1yJ8DPxMTR5hdhEq6VufbTOEmTHGRMYbX-lvUEbqAYVpuGyEE/s1600/hummingbird+feeders+RTHU+BBHU.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipvPOcnMwxm9yttW-UoqrJsg6sbeV798XUU-X79eobLOe33RgkrhkDR3-msKVx6icLhkpGg7rnhZ9k3vTGU67C52ehZX1yJ8DPxMTR5hdhEq6VufbTOEmTHGRMYbX-lvUEbqAYVpuGyEE/s400/hummingbird+feeders+RTHU+BBHU.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Corpus Christi Hummingbird Feeders - Erik Bruhnke</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">6 Unfortunately hawks don’t migrate year round. What do you
do for the rest of the year?</span></b></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I run my own birding tour business, Naturally
Avian. I also lead birding tours for Victor Emanuel Nature Tours. Throughout the
latter half of each year I lead Texas Pelagic trips that depart from South
Padre Island, TX. When I’m not leading birding tours I work regularly at Quinta
Mazatlan, one of the World Birding Centers in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">McAllen</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">TX</st1:state></st1:place>.
I write periodically for birding magazines and enjoy speaking and leading trips
at birding festivals. I’m a part-time bird photographer too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">7 If you could go and count hawks anywhere in the world,
where would it be and why? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I have a few answers… <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">First off, I’d love to visit <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Gunsight</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Pass</st1:placetype></st1:place>
(<st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Alaska</st1:place></st1:state>)
someday. Red-tailed Hawks are one of my favorite birds, and I think it would be
thrilling to partake in the cool, refreshing elements up there while seeing
Harlan’s Red-tailed Hawks among the many northern raptor and non-raptor
species. Big raptors are great! Snow is fantastic too. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It would be fun to visit the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">River</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Raptors</st1:placename></st1:place>
in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Veracruz</st1:place></st1:state>
some day. Having spent this season counting at the Corpus Christi HawkWatch, I
have a feel for the massive lines of raptors and what it is like to count them.
I think it would be interesting to see the masses of birds moving through in a
different setting too. Every hawkwatch has its charm, and <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Veracruz</st1:place></st1:state> is on the bucket list. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">To a site I’ve worked at before, I have to say
it would be great to visit Hawk Ridge (<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Duluth</st1:city>,
<st1:state w:st="on">MN</st1:state></st1:place>) again. I love the powerful
changing of the seasons, with the sights, sounds, smells and temperatures
varying from day to day. The flight of Northern Goshawk, Red-tailed Hawks, Bald
Eagles and boreal birds all-round is quite a spectacle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0vJGasq6OTxrLxe7mbh7Z9ZxSQpvfC6PbP1hU-kk8jXjzR-7znnAi2K6PKEZy9-496q0d0uJRmZ1S4_m0GA1gJ5I4kL686Y6MfAloKF-kbyKqzXi-A1_yKV-u7DaCwi3yWcHmVjXxwJk/s1600/HAHA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0vJGasq6OTxrLxe7mbh7Z9ZxSQpvfC6PbP1hU-kk8jXjzR-7znnAi2K6PKEZy9-496q0d0uJRmZ1S4_m0GA1gJ5I4kL686Y6MfAloKF-kbyKqzXi-A1_yKV-u7DaCwi3yWcHmVjXxwJk/s400/HAHA.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Harris's Hawk - Erik Bruhnke</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">8 What do you like to do when you aren’t watching hawks (or
birding)?</span></b></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I enjoy cooking and baking. Camping and long hikes
hit the spot too. It’s fun to sketch birds. When the outside conditions are
right, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing are great. I’m a fan of craft beer
as well, and enjoy a good pint while reading bird books.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="background: white; color: #141823; font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">9 Do you have a personal blog, website, flickr page etc that
we can keep up with your adventures?</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823;">For Facebook, friend me! I use my personal Facebook
page to post pictures and birding-related matters daily. I also have a
Naturally Avian Facebook page too. </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #141823;">My business website Naturally Avian can be found here (<a href="http://www.naturallyavian.com/" target="_blank">link</a>), and you </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823;">can find the trips and tours I’m leading for</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823;"> </span><st1:stockticker style="color: #141823;" w:st="on">VENT here (<a href="http://ventbird.com/people/erik-bruhnke" target="_blank">link</a>). </st1:stockticker><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #141823;"><o:p>My p</o:p></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #141823;">ersonal blog is not up yet, but I'm working on that
soon!</span></span></div>
Luke Tillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885222370605522772noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8574782419258081396.post-19513962797793454972015-10-07T18:56:00.000-07:002015-10-08T12:40:21.386-07:001.3 Million Hawks and Counting.....<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVDYuVGF9HlEFNv6J3K3o8SX0G69z9TUhk6m6KgZL8gJl120jUC2Ey5BjCcrFjTtC1528ycPS-r9_gaPAGsCOyNiBmnQRw94pTDj3unZf9B0TBr3XNFenO3LfIdgEGiG6VFamRBn8QPNDO/s1600/IHMW+Militia+Hill+banner+2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVDYuVGF9HlEFNv6J3K3o8SX0G69z9TUhk6m6KgZL8gJl120jUC2Ey5BjCcrFjTtC1528ycPS-r9_gaPAGsCOyNiBmnQRw94pTDj3unZf9B0TBr3XNFenO3LfIdgEGiG6VFamRBn8QPNDO/s400/IHMW+Militia+Hill+banner+2015.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Militia Hill Hawk Watch displaying its banner during IHMW.<br />
Photo by Rich Conroy.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Congratulations to the 102 watchsites from Ontario to Mexico that
counted over 1 million raptors during HMANA’s 2nd annual
International Hawk Migration Week (IHMW) September 19-27, 2015. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Thirty-one states and provinces counted thirty species of
raptors, the vast majority being Broad-winged Hawks (1,304,132) - since IHMW
took place during their peak migration. Other high counts included 23,244
Sharp-shinned Hawks, 6,659 Turkey Vultures, 6,182 Mississippi Kites, 5,696
American Kestrels and 3,661 Osprey.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhnam3dbZMDmw6kC8HQZ92HO9XJcUth-zxMn_3FLPo7qvzmSPSXAMCbzic5LR18b-WzzZJ2Ue-7HLj1j0ofRfQuQwXe9xD2MQEQtI_vj6jOrpls1ATlUS6z3Q-6xrxpuC6r0lJ-wwKL9o2/s1600/Kiptopeke+IHMW+2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhnam3dbZMDmw6kC8HQZ92HO9XJcUth-zxMn_3FLPo7qvzmSPSXAMCbzic5LR18b-WzzZJ2Ue-7HLj1j0ofRfQuQwXe9xD2MQEQtI_vj6jOrpls1ATlUS6z3Q-6xrxpuC6r0lJ-wwKL9o2/s400/Kiptopeke+IHMW+2015.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small; text-align: start;">Graham Scarborough, Eli Gross and Dave Youker <br />at Kiptopeke, VA. Photo by Brian Taber.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span>HMANA started IHMW in 2014 as a way to celebrate raptor migration.
We wanted to shine a light on the incredible spectacle that takes place each
fall and highlight all the watchsites in the HawkCount monitoring network. </div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuyv0E5tDiMKcgIGZMfuQc4EFLbOj8V2RC2VMNst8c8g49f9Rs6VashyphenhyphenqLkKL3A9_kL-rxrFgdPKfeOJ9y2UyeVxJ6wOoqUgEpHvh4nG-Nx9VX6Dk_ZvdGtXNIMWYQ7colIjJwZgdphPLt/s1600/corpus+3+IHMW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuyv0E5tDiMKcgIGZMfuQc4EFLbOj8V2RC2VMNst8c8g49f9Rs6VashyphenhyphenqLkKL3A9_kL-rxrFgdPKfeOJ9y2UyeVxJ6wOoqUgEpHvh4nG-Nx9VX6Dk_ZvdGtXNIMWYQ7colIjJwZgdphPLt/s400/corpus+3+IHMW.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jerry Ligouri raptor talk, Celebration of Flight, <br />
Corpus Christi, TX. Photo by Patty Waits Beasley</td></tr>
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It’s
the perfect opportunity to connect people with the cycle of migration. I think many
of my fellow hawk watchers would agree that one of the great joys is
introducing someone to a big flight or low-flying peregrine for the first time.
It gives my goose bumps to see the excitement in their eyes. Recently during a
spectacular flight of broad-wings at my local watchsite, I heard a man say, “Wow,
I feel like a better person having witnessed this.”</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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</div>
So the goal of IHMW is to share these experiences with others.
And I think we were successful in that. In addition to submitting daily counts
to HawkCount.org, sites celebrated across the map with various hawk watching
festivals, identification workshops and live bird of prey events. Some celebrations
included a handful of people on remote mountaintops while other events drew
thousands to multi-day festivals but no matter the size, it all revolved around the love of raptors and the pure joy of migration.<br />
<o:p></o:p><br />
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For more information about IHMW, please visit www.hmana.org. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY4nd093IAID1lSTDf8_knhFFwJBlfgKnY76jrMsn5GKi_cPTDbRF-I0k0cLu0f6nRwWtl6XtgcTwXMFcjn19uBQLh28t6r5Gb3Kpqs-SCh8onhsaG1Jwwb07DTr9I1O_zzf5qKOd1XYCH/s1600/wellsville+IHMW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY4nd093IAID1lSTDf8_knhFFwJBlfgKnY76jrMsn5GKi_cPTDbRF-I0k0cLu0f6nRwWtl6XtgcTwXMFcjn19uBQLh28t6r5Gb3Kpqs-SCh8onhsaG1Jwwb07DTr9I1O_zzf5qKOd1XYCH/s400/wellsville+IHMW.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hawk watchers at Wellsville Hawk Watch, UT. Photo by Neil Paprocki</td></tr>
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Julie Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04921010025253205978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8574782419258081396.post-60014735574621087052015-09-29T09:09:00.000-07:002015-09-30T12:02:50.826-07:00 Monitoring Count Traineeship a Great Success!<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.6667px; text-align: start;">The Hawk Ridge count team: Alex Lamoreaux, counter; Karl Bardon, count director and Kaija Gahm, count trainee</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">When Hawk Ridge
Observatory was awarded HMANA’s 2015 Hawk Watch Fund to fund </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">a
migration monitoring “count” traineeship, we were excited to hear more about it.</span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">Well it’s mid-season
and it seems the position has been wildly successful so far. This year’s count
trainee, Kaija Gahm, Kaija is an enthusiastic and accomplished young woman who
is taking a "gap year" between high school and going off to college
at Yale. Among her other accomplishments, she has been a participant in the
Cornell Lab of Ornithology "Young Birders Event"; she has won the
Massachusetts (overall & Wildlife categories) and national (Wildlife
category) Envirothon; and she has been an active participant in E-bird and the
Massachusetts Audubon Bird-a-thon for several years throughout high school.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;"><br />
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">Kaija has been
involved in some fantastic days of counting at Hawk Ridge, including a day of
90,000+ songbirds on September 1. Karen Stubenvoll, Hawk Ridge Board Chair is
thrilled with Kaija. “It has really enhanced our count by having her here, and
we are so happy to be training the next generation.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">The goal of the count traineeship
is to provide a unique, hands-on, professional training opportunity for those
interested in learning the skills to conduct migration monitoring research. The
trainee learns identification of birds by both sight and sound for raptors and
non-raptors, data collection, data entry, public relations with visitors, and
other valuable research tools. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Here is a video clip of Kaija in action with hawk counter Alex Lamoreaux from
the Duluth News Tribune. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">The duty of a counter at Hawk
Ridge: </span><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;"><a href="http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/video/4480074064001" target="_blank">http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/video/4480074064001</a></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.6667px; text-align: start;">Kaija scanning the sky for raptors at Hawk Ridge</span></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">Hearing this story makes us very
happy at HMANA. This is what the Hawk Watch Fund is all about! We offer grants each year
to watch sites in the HawkCount.org monitoring network with the purpose of
providing grants to assist watch sites looking for support whether it’s
educational materials and displays, construction and maintenance of viewing
platforms, hiring hawk watchers, or purchase of equipment. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">Funding </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">comes from proceeds of HMANA’s
annual spring Raptorthon and from direct donations to the Fund.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">Sites may apply from December
1-February 15 and awards are chosen April 1. For more information on how to
apply, please visit </span><a href="http://www.hmana.org/"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">www.hmana.org</span></a><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">All photos by Karen Stubenvoll</span></div>
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Julie Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04921010025253205978noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8574782419258081396.post-88210755217763116622015-09-24T12:02:00.001-07:002015-09-24T12:14:57.626-07:00Raptors on your Radar?<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLaUHYgrdoD3dvEZd5oHJWie2PKaNRONf9wk9QbmM6T-P2vsLxtyPVPEumC8k-S7pf8q83Z5xC_6eiBs4H1R065OS9FOnRNNu6aq0-qyhrk3JkMIZVNoiW0i3MfFJMW-K-eCjdB7XvEuM/s1600/duluthmap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLaUHYgrdoD3dvEZd5oHJWie2PKaNRONf9wk9QbmM6T-P2vsLxtyPVPEumC8k-S7pf8q83Z5xC_6eiBs4H1R065OS9FOnRNNu6aq0-qyhrk3JkMIZVNoiW0i3MfFJMW-K-eCjdB7XvEuM/s400/duluthmap.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Duluth Area Map</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm sure many of you will have stumbled upon the concept of birders and ornithologists checking out the night's NEXRAD Radar readings to look for migrant land birds flying during the night. What many don't seem to have cottoned on to is that you can do exactly the same thing with raptors. For some basics on using radar to observe bird migration check out eBird (<a href="http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/radar/" target="_blank">here</a>). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tom Carrolan, author of the irreverent Hawks Aloft blog (<a href="http://www.hawksaloft.com/" target="_blank">read it here</a>), from Derby Hill is a big proponent of studying hawk flights on radar. He sent me an email this week with some cool images and video from the first big flight at Hawk Ridge on September 12th. Above I have attached an image of Duluth so that you can see where the lake etc is. Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory is a couple of miles north of Duluth, right along the lake shore.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From here I'll let Tom explain:</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZwNSSn-YUumfFmo1-T8E12j9lIrgZb0fRKGTtGnTjijmLhvr5VmNirlecIIKwQkFxWWxTl5tggJdEIpbILNjBnqqb93ZAZKepw9ytxn3sJUaiaNnotLOz-cIM-NPBjK0NDvXeQxQHDpw/s1600/NEXRAD-Duluth20151012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="398" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZwNSSn-YUumfFmo1-T8E12j9lIrgZb0fRKGTtGnTjijmLhvr5VmNirlecIIKwQkFxWWxTl5tggJdEIpbILNjBnqqb93ZAZKepw9ytxn3sJUaiaNnotLOz-cIM-NPBjK0NDvXeQxQHDpw/s400/NEXRAD-Duluth20151012.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Radar capture of Hawk Ridge Flight (the thin blue line)</td></tr>
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<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">"Above is a still image showing the typical Hawk Ridge flight line affected by the lake line… initially it’s on rails at the shore (indicated by the thin blue line of raptors). As the day goes along you can observe the raptor flight drifts inland (west). From the day's hawkcount report conditions were described as southwest to east, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">however, they were ce</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">rtainly northwest inland as indicated by the still image and radar loop, which would indicate the SW-E readings at the lake were caused by a<a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/lake+breeze" target="_blank"> lake breeze</a>.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">This link is for a two-hour sample, showing the flight. Note birds at the northeast end of the loop first, then look towards the hawkwatch </span><a href="http://tinyurl.com/q6ow66d" rel="noreferrer" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/q6ow66d</a><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">The radar shows exactly what was observed on the ground. From the report: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">"Broad-wings started strong during morning lift off, but the kettles drifted </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">off to our west with the light easterly breeze, two more dark Swainson's </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">were spotted, the fifth day in a row” (<a href="http://birding.aba.org/message.php?mesid=986427&MLID=BH&MLNM=BirdHawk" target="_blank">you can read the days report on BirdHawk here</a>)."</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">As far as I'm concerned it's really cool to be able to see and capture the flight of birds during a day like this. It allows you to see both how a large flight of raptors looks on radar but also to get an idea of what you were missing by being stuck at one site if the flight lines of the birds move. Another thing for radar fans to mess around with. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Out of interest, here's the radar loop from their 17 thousand bird day on the 19th of September (<a href="http://weather.rap.ucar.edu/radar/displayRad.php?icao=KDLH&prod=bref1&bkgr=gray&endDate=20150919&endTime=21&duration=6" target="_blank">click link</a>).</span></span></div>
Luke Tillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885222370605522772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8574782419258081396.post-40739636987215548242015-09-18T07:53:00.000-07:002015-09-18T07:53:03.473-07:00Hawkwatching Across The Globe - Israel<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZBbXKxzAx-eI9GJpylETsJc949wH1FJZ4XwJ78M7Zyo50SASHmfs14cJX133_F6emCRRyeKpNCTtkkLUxd-74H4bUshkfgHGhE84bFZ01SYxHJ9DCbSkRcLx7NIuVBWCLPlIiT7gDAbo/s1600/photo-27.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZBbXKxzAx-eI9GJpylETsJc949wH1FJZ4XwJ78M7Zyo50SASHmfs14cJX133_F6emCRRyeKpNCTtkkLUxd-74H4bUshkfgHGhE84bFZ01SYxHJ9DCbSkRcLx7NIuVBWCLPlIiT7gDAbo/s400/photo-27.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hawkwatching panorama Israel - Luke Tiller</td></tr>
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<b style="font-size: 12.8px;">1/ Tell us a little about your watch.</b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">The Israeli Ornithological Center Soaring Birds Count has been going on for over 30 years. During this period the survey has been held in 2 different parts of Israel: in the Northern Valleys and in recent years the west Samaria Hills, about 10 miles east of Tel Aviv. The survey consists of three to five posts, several miles apart spanning the width of the country. The posts are manned daily and the season is eight weeks in length from mid-August to mid-October. We have used volunteers over the years but in recent years we have moved over to using mainly paid local surveyors. </span><br />
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In spring 2015 we returned to the Eilat mountains after 18 years and re-established a Spring Soaring Birds Count. This is also a long term project that is run by a mixture of paid surveyors and volunteers.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu0Ir86p-wEL-7zblVt_2n_pQRZj1bq5mrwKYJoV4mjjUHD3sVmnR1f0AA_S4jYfzLBB1mJklVbtZJa2BRZ_295AmFwgqGuKFJqdaEa7r0JFvrVM6tJLf0_OVv47RXqpACqEjIVQyzEoc/s1600/15667563860_34c956cfa1_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu0Ir86p-wEL-7zblVt_2n_pQRZj1bq5mrwKYJoV4mjjUHD3sVmnR1f0AA_S4jYfzLBB1mJklVbtZJa2BRZ_295AmFwgqGuKFJqdaEa7r0JFvrVM6tJLf0_OVv47RXqpACqEjIVQyzEoc/s400/15667563860_34c956cfa1_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red-footed Falcon - Luke Tiller</td></tr>
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<b style="font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">2/ What is the most numerous raptor species seen at your count?</span> </b></div>
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In the fall, Honey Buzzards (Honeys) are the most common with an average of over 400,000 individuals, also 300,000 White Storks, 110,000 Lesser Spotted Eagles and 50,000 Pelicans and Levant Sparrowhawks. In the Spring half a million Steppe Buzzards and close to half a million Honey Buzzards as well. Both seasons have another 200,000 soaring birds of other species. </div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;"><b>3/ What are the most sought after?</b></span><br />
We put special emphasis on different species for different reasons. Storks we count as part of the flight safety project. Levant Sparrowhawks and Lesser Spotted Eagles are counted as means of monitoring the populations of these species as the majority of their population passes through Israel in migration. There is special interest in "pulling out" the larger Eagles, especially in the fall, Eastern Imperial, Greater Spotted and Steppe. There is always interest in rarities and when possible we search for Crested (Oriental) Honey Buzzards within the streams of Honey Buzzards and we always keep an eye out for the rarer Falcons, Eleonora's, Lanner, Saker etc.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7keR07QZk1WvfcTSJWf9oXWTtuE338TN6G9JceglhRfjpO95rT7r3jkL5xwB8T_PDFy6tRhrABVNzOYYt0cQBqAzrDOdRx0nUqqjFIi5AxKaPxho_Ids49odl6EPMGjSJYgyhPvSESGI/s1600/14913014233_1a2b82834c_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7keR07QZk1WvfcTSJWf9oXWTtuE338TN6G9JceglhRfjpO95rT7r3jkL5xwB8T_PDFy6tRhrABVNzOYYt0cQBqAzrDOdRx0nUqqjFIi5AxKaPxho_Ids49odl6EPMGjSJYgyhPvSESGI/s400/14913014233_1a2b82834c_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Steppe Eagle - Luke Tiller</td></tr>
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<b style="font-size: 12.8px;">4/ Do you band/ring raptors too?</b></div>
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We do in Eilat in the spring. There is a small scale project to band Steppe Buzzards and Levant Sparrowhwks down there. Eilat is the most important place for banding Levants in the world. </div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;"><b>5/ Do you just count raptors or are you counting other bird species as well?</b></span><br />
Just raptors for now, we have separate surveys for passerine flights. </div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;"><b>6/ What are the goals of your count (outreach, conservation issues, population monitoring all of the above)?</b></span><br />
One of the main, and unique, goals of the count is to ensure air travel safety. The huge numbers of migrants soaring birds crossing Israel can prove to be an issue for both civil and military aircraft and the survey is held in collaboration with the IAF. This means survey leaders are in constant contact with air traffic control to update them about movements of birds. Our team identifies and counts everything that passes and the data is collected. We also use the main survey posts as an educational and outreach tool<span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">and we hold open weekends for the public. </span><br />
These weekends often attract large numbers of visitors. As part of this we have interpretative naturalists and educators to help explain this incredible migration spectacle to visitors. The central post is highly accessible being just outside the capital and near the crossings of both both main North/South and East/West Routes through the country.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWsqFxVqMR9jDorcv3xV5yUm6Bxt9HfW75vufSQkh30tWKzISiNJc6QpmozzvIbqWSiLp8z_lh7WBi4FjrMu7-hbUx51V2Z18Fy3w_K3ZjocWSTXkZH69opiALx-SC_z2c8u0wMJLS1nM/s1600/15530299581_b257699969_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWsqFxVqMR9jDorcv3xV5yUm6Bxt9HfW75vufSQkh30tWKzISiNJc6QpmozzvIbqWSiLp8z_lh7WBi4FjrMu7-hbUx51V2Z18Fy3w_K3ZjocWSTXkZH69opiALx-SC_z2c8u0wMJLS1nM/s400/15530299581_b257699969_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marsh Harrier - Luke Tiller</td></tr>
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<b style="font-size: 12.8px;">7/ What is the best time to visit your watch ?</b></div>
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There is always something to look at in a hawkwatch post in Israel. In the fall I suggest the last week of September to mid October when the larger birds pass in impressive streams, Pelicans, Lesser Spotted Eagles and other aquila species like Greater Spotted, Imperial, Steppe etc can be seen. The relatively uniform weather here means that flights are fairly predictable and regular with late morning when the passage usually kicks off.<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;"><b>8/ Can your data be viewed online, if so where?</b></span><br />
Data and daily updates can be found on the Israel Birds Portal <a href="http://www.birds.org.il/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">www.birds.org.il</a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;"><b>9/ If visitors from the US wanted to visit your site where should they go to find out more?</b></span><br />
Same thing, the portal, they can contact us through there!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXDxc4zWXv269PfX2YjDw-EWIeSYB7wcZ9TN7YvIDifsDiFYtA4h6YyxCUHH2enW144DlkH6KJiVVbqADxTcEiO5V7rEzG-ctaQVpZh6Zg9qahrhS59CrVlDx4iJmQsY_zl7RSeDs2_UI/s1600/14912178914_4a7104ca3e_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXDxc4zWXv269PfX2YjDw-EWIeSYB7wcZ9TN7YvIDifsDiFYtA4h6YyxCUHH2enW144DlkH6KJiVVbqADxTcEiO5V7rEzG-ctaQVpZh6Zg9qahrhS59CrVlDx4iJmQsY_zl7RSeDs2_UI/s400/14912178914_4a7104ca3e_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Great White Pelicans - Luke Tiller</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Thanks to Jonathan Meyrav from the Israeli Ornithological Center for asnwering our questions. To read more about hawkwatching in Israel you can read HMANA board member Luke Tiller's blog posts about his time out there counting in fall (</span><a href="http://underclearskies.com/2015/01/28/hawk-migration-studies-article/" style="font-size: 12.8px;" target="_blank">on his blog</a><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">). You can get an idea of spring migration by reading Doug Gochfeld's experiences out there this spring on The Leica Birding Blog (</span><a href="http://blog.leica-birding.com/doug-gochfeld-monitoring-migrations-in-israel/" style="font-size: 12.8px;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">). </span></div>
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Luke Tillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885222370605522772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8574782419258081396.post-42988774042374015252015-09-15T01:43:00.001-07:002015-09-15T01:53:33.228-07:00Hawkwatching Across The Globe - Belize Raptor Research Institute <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Though our focus at HMANA is mainly on North America, there are hawkwatches happening across the globe. Between September 19-27 we will be celebrating hawk migration both in our region and beyond with our second annual <b>International Hawk Migration Week</b> (<a href="http://www.hmana.org/2nd-annual-international-hawk-migration-week/" target="_blank">info here</a>). During this period we will be sharing information about hawkwatches from around the world both here and on our Facebook page (<a href="https://www.facebook.com/Hawk-Migration-Association-of-North-America-HMANA-278725758995/timeline/" target="_blank">link here</a>). Time to get your bucket list out, you may want to start adding to it! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">First up let's hear from<b> Belize Raptor Research Institute</b>, and their relatively recently formed watch in, you've guessed it, Belize. For those that don't know Belize is often a big draw for British and American birders, not just for their incredible birds, but also because it's the only country in Central America that has English as its official language.</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-o1vt7DtbQ5NpXVxDQnzhZhDjOvywkP-rklzHg1Kz4Xhq9uXhVJ00zpVF9vCfa527yle0JIlfOojWEfVWWD5raC6p7RVnzRgP5mPQyLRWatvPbHRQpDNPWWHaHnkc3QguY1QZhFxz2_U/s1600/Count+Team.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-o1vt7DtbQ5NpXVxDQnzhZhDjOvywkP-rklzHg1Kz4Xhq9uXhVJ00zpVF9vCfa527yle0JIlfOojWEfVWWD5raC6p7RVnzRgP5mPQyLRWatvPbHRQpDNPWWHaHnkc3QguY1QZhFxz2_U/s400/Count+Team.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Count Team - Belize Raptor Research Institute</span></td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1/ Tell us a little about the Belize Raptor Research Institute Watch!</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Imagine being on the Caribbean Sea
coastline with the humid ocean breeze on your face as you stand vigilantly
under a coconut palm gazing into the hot sky at one of nature’s greatest
spectacles, raptor migration. This may feel like a vacation, but this is our
(Belize Raptor Research Institute) hawk watch site located in the southern
extent of Belize in the Toledo District at a place called Cattle Landing, just
north of Punta Gorda Town. This site is truly a special place for migration, as
birds, specifically here raptors, get funneled by the geography as they make
their migration south to their wintering grounds using the coastline as their
leading line via island hopping from Cuba through the Yucatán, passing through
Veracruz before making their way through Belize, or through a feat that was thought not
to occur in raptors many years ago: crossing the Gulf of Mexico. Our count-site
is directly on the coastline on the Cattle Landing community soccer field. This
gives us a full 360 degree vantage to view raptors as they pass over the site.
It is also located on the main road into Punta Gorda, so all passersby are
exposed to the count and it raises attention to the public and Belize about
raptors. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFZYx9hbtgQiF85gcoorrF6Hobke-w10CQ-SMoytTuiIIoY71Pbr68NHVlJQK_FXJlf7rbSXbDRz8_U6trAlz6O_ZaiE1SG41NZL8jrW4-srjg1QVq7t8tdVMASXG2mLTXgjG1_O65_2o/s1600/Drk+HBKI.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFZYx9hbtgQiF85gcoorrF6Hobke-w10CQ-SMoytTuiIIoY71Pbr68NHVlJQK_FXJlf7rbSXbDRz8_U6trAlz6O_ZaiE1SG41NZL8jrW4-srjg1QVq7t8tdVMASXG2mLTXgjG1_O65_2o/s400/Drk+HBKI.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dark Hook-billed Kite - BRRI</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This site was first discovered as a
key migration site by Dr. Lee Jones, Author of ‘Birds of Belize,’ when he
witnessed kettles of Hook-billed Kites migrating south, a species that was
thought to be sedentary. To better understand migrating raptors in Belize and
to fill that information gap in Central America we started the first fall Hawk
Watch Program in Belize in 2013 and will start our third consecutive year on
October 15. In 2013 our count was from September 15 to December 7 and 2014 was
from October 1 to December 15. This year we will be counting from October 15
through December 15. We are counting raptors at the site seven days a week from
8:00 am to 4:00 pm.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our watch team consists of a variety
of people from all walks of life. We have two paid positions, Project
Coordinator and Count Leader. To build capacity for raptor research,
conservation, and education in Belize we only hire Belizeans for these two
positions. The Project Coordinator is a Toledo District native and bird expert,
Victor Bonilla. He has been the Coordinator for the first two years and will
continue this year. Our current Count Leader is Isael Mai from San Antonio
Village in the Cayo District who works on various bird-related projects and was
a volunteer in 2013 on the entire count and last year moved up to Count Leader.
The remaining team members are volunteer count technicians who are from all
over the world, including Belize, but are primarily recent graduates from the
United States gaining experience in research and conservation before pursuing a
career in a wildlife related field or entering into graduate school. We have a
diverse team that all bring various attributes to the count.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjasSzi6KuSc4-uAi0lC0NeDm7vVr9buviXDTSJ1dWhIqLWVdxGjoDaqgFwpKag0dhsN-heNVWp5HqgZWzMVKNeMyheFEVrWz3JxD6FLqhNP7xIRUNnKJGoAl5f4k_rDnu-3z2EhhiARTs/s1600/20130925-_MG_3038.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjasSzi6KuSc4-uAi0lC0NeDm7vVr9buviXDTSJ1dWhIqLWVdxGjoDaqgFwpKag0dhsN-heNVWp5HqgZWzMVKNeMyheFEVrWz3JxD6FLqhNP7xIRUNnKJGoAl5f4k_rDnu-3z2EhhiARTs/s400/20130925-_MG_3038.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Counters - BRRI</span></td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2/ What is the most numerous raptor
species seen at your count?</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our first two year results were much
different from one another. In 2013, we counted 8,457 raptors, of which 2,858
(33.8%) were migrants. In 2014, we counted 21,077, of which 8,770 (41.6%) were
migrants. Based on Dr. Jones’ observations we believe that 2013 was an anomaly year
and 2014 is more of the norm. However, this year’s count will tell us a lot.
The five most common migrant species at this site are Hook-billed Kites (744 in
2013 and 5,086 in 2014), Mississippi Kites (817 in 2013 and 1,705 in 2014),
Broad-winged Hawks (348 in 2013 and 1081 in 2014), Peregrine Falcons (434 in
2013 and 418 in 2014), and Osprey (376 in 2013 and 269 in 2014). We have
recorded 32 species of raptor at the site in the 2 years, including rare
resident species such as Orange-breasted Falcon, Crested Caracara, and Aplomado
Falcon. The most common non-migrants at the site (in order of most common) are
Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Short-tailed Hawk, and Common Black-Hawk. </span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3/ What are the most sought after?</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By far, the focus of this count has
been the Hook-billed Kite migration since this is a recently discovered
phenomenon and other than Veracruz, Mexico (on average 120 HBKI per year,
respectively) is the only known location with a migration of this species.
Where these birds are migrating to and coming from is still a mystery. Last
year we documented a good size movement of Double-toothed Kites, which are
considered resident only, so we are interested in this movement, which has not
yet been documented anywhere else. Also, this is a great site for Peregrine Falcons,
which our one day high count was 85 individuals. If we counted in August this
site has potential to produce one of the highest counts of Swallow-tailed
Kites. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkP0e18W6vL0eCQex3OLYyXZ8cfxF1ql9amaDOl3SIDZlQGJcaIYjv7BZbTv703BZIuq-6mY_lYt28Btfu7aatOPno0uD-LPyJnTOwGd6ICT-E1inWEXJ_Dls7YNtT3bDj0RZ1VN-EXpk/s1600/110114+HOKI+05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkP0e18W6vL0eCQex3OLYyXZ8cfxF1ql9amaDOl3SIDZlQGJcaIYjv7BZbTv703BZIuq-6mY_lYt28Btfu7aatOPno0uD-LPyJnTOwGd6ICT-E1inWEXJ_Dls7YNtT3bDj0RZ1VN-EXpk/s400/110114+HOKI+05.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Hook-billed Kite Kettle - BRRI</span></td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4/ Do you band/ring raptors too?</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We currently do not band raptors,
but we are collaborating with folks from the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory to
possibly start a banding station in Belize. The goal is to have a banding
station by 2017. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>5/ Do you just count raptors or are
you counting other bird species as well?</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We only formally and systematically
count raptors, but we do document non-raptor species. This site is good for
passerines as well, but if we counted them it would take away our focus on
raptors and would bias our data. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQWStnOE0_PP7fB4HYEsH5S1NcNNgzo7fQfOi4VJN3jMCKKjCt0UeWgJqh_nMTvL5rtnmAGJ1zIQeSQJinMTT9Oc0cnnyKT3naQhsoDN4N8u9lmX0GouBAdwvgUuURp9HNW_gkI-FTGoo/s1600/school3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQWStnOE0_PP7fB4HYEsH5S1NcNNgzo7fQfOi4VJN3jMCKKjCt0UeWgJqh_nMTvL5rtnmAGJ1zIQeSQJinMTT9Oc0cnnyKT3naQhsoDN4N8u9lmX0GouBAdwvgUuURp9HNW_gkI-FTGoo/s400/school3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Raptor School - BRRI</span></td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6/ What are the goals of your count
(outreach, conservation issues, population monitoring all of the above)?</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This project is multifaceted to better understand
raptors migrating through Belize and fill that gap in Mesoamerica, while
informing the public about the importance of raptors and showing them
first-hand how amazing nature is. The target species is the enigmatic
Hook-billed Kite, a potentially key indicator species of climate change. The
data obtained from this site will assist in the conservation of raptors from
the Neotropical and temperate zones by informing the scientific community and
management agencies of changes in raptor populations. Our specific objectives
are as follows:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ul>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Better understand and quantify the raptor migration
through Belize.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Learn if species that were thought to be sedentary are
truly migratory (e.g. Hook-billed Kite) and quantify their migration.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Understand the seasonality of little known migratory
species.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fill a void of knowledge in raptor migration in
Mesoamerica.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Establish a long-term Raptor Watch.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Participate in multinational conservation by monitoring
migratory raptors that pass through multiple countries and two continents.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Raise research and conservation awareness of raptors
and migratory birds to the region to ultimately help protect both
migratory and resident raptor populations.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Build local capacity in conservation through this
community based project.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Train future biologists and conservationists in
research and conservation.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list .5in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Build a community bird observation platform to benefit
ecotourism and education of biodiversity in the region.</span></li>
</ul>
<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7/ What is the best time to visit
your watch?</b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Belize is a very unique place for
raptor migration and probably one of the longest migration seasons.
Swallow-tailed Kite southbound migration peaks in mid-August in Belize while
Hook-billed Kite migration continues through early December. The best time to
visit all depends on what species is your target. If you want to see Plumbeous
Kites and Swallow-tailed Kites August is the best time. If you would like to
see Mississippi Kites then September is the best time. However, we count from
October to December as our target species is Hook-billed Kites. If you would
like to see temperate species, such as Peregrine Falcons, Ospreys, and
Broad-winged Hawks then October is ideal. The great Peregrine migration through
Belize peaks October 9-18. Most likely the target is to witness migrating
Hook-billed Kites, in which case, any time from the October 22 through
mid-December, but it appears that there are multiple peaks around October 26,
November 9, and December 1. However, more count years are needed to determine
if these peaks are consistent from year to year. We rarely get rained out, but
on average get 4 days with no count due to rain. So take your pick of what
species you would like to see and come down to count with our team. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAQgt2Giq5MSQl54lgekuKSFiZDzb12uVUJzBI1D_KcxzNlNjJ0A9rofFL8zQxHsF7UjUFpsCcpyzL_T1Q_l78sBC_yn0vvFBx_7NzRZ1yItaucISZi7HVQ5TC0Tu2hcF4JTy83VDGmVo/s1600/MIKI+Ket1Pic2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="363" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAQgt2Giq5MSQl54lgekuKSFiZDzb12uVUJzBI1D_KcxzNlNjJ0A9rofFL8zQxHsF7UjUFpsCcpyzL_T1Q_l78sBC_yn0vvFBx_7NzRZ1yItaucISZi7HVQ5TC0Tu2hcF4JTy83VDGmVo/s400/MIKI+Ket1Pic2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mississippi Kite Kettle - BRRI</span></td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8/ Can your data be viewed online, if
so where?</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, the first 2 years we posted our
daily findings on our website at: <a href="http://www.belizeraptorresearch.com/news-2/2769/">http://www.belizeraptorresearch.com/news-2/2769/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This year (2015), we will continue
to post on our website with photos, as well as uploading our data to the HMANA Hawkcount database. We will also upload our first 2 years to Hawkcount. We are
currently working on a manuscript to publish our first 3 years of results and
establish this site as a critical raptor migration location.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>9/ If visitors from the US wanted to
visit your site where should they go to find out more?</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can get more information about
our count at <a href="http://www.belizeraptorresearch.org/">www.belizeraptorresearch.org</a> or email myself, Project Director, at <a href="mailto:belizeraptorresearch@gmail.com">belizeraptorresearch@gmail.com.</a></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Visitors from outside of Belize visiting the site will
need to fly into Belize City (BZE) and then to get to the count-site you have a
few different options: take another 1 hour flight to Punta Gorda via Maya
Island Air or TropicAir; take a 6 hour bus ride from Belize City to Punta
Gorda; or rent a vehicle and drive down to Punta Gorda. Once in the Punta Gorda
area the nearest accommodation is Beya Suites, which is within walking distance
to the site. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGjx-XrBJ0Lq-O2Sx1uOHQh1pxlC5hG7uBnsEdV3R5RBcH2AwbppT_u6KVqAAjbIahPdsA2vNssg0ZtwgYHxwu8NIFboOKm5b8CAmzuT6QC59rprQkIqPAAlLNT0VWEzT9kCkDoim4kDU/s1600/Victor+with+kids.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGjx-XrBJ0Lq-O2Sx1uOHQh1pxlC5hG7uBnsEdV3R5RBcH2AwbppT_u6KVqAAjbIahPdsA2vNssg0ZtwgYHxwu8NIFboOKm5b8CAmzuT6QC59rprQkIqPAAlLNT0VWEzT9kCkDoim4kDU/s400/Victor+with+kids.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Victor with the kids - BRRI</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thanks to Ryan Phillips, Project Director at Belize Raptor Research for supplying answer to our questions! We are looking forward to following their season on HMANA's Hawkcount! Y</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ou can also keep up with goings on through their Facebook page (</span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Belize-Raptor-Research-Institute-BRRI-166076516748557/timeline/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">).</span></div>
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Luke Tillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885222370605522772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8574782419258081396.post-1866079375235729452015-09-08T07:54:00.000-07:002015-09-24T14:11:09.318-07:00Vultures - talking the stork!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeXaPLpJG8l0VuV3d4R3QDYJ6_OdsUyB_ezyCfyFFQmKw46-12Q3sUqjbD21SGeUNLiq3Io6yzOzQ2sm-9i7Rt49jZ6yaboeYHdJpe-XTchzZwVrFyqmtvUR6_3dunW555q9gDP1NLT9Q/s1600/_MG_0251.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeXaPLpJG8l0VuV3d4R3QDYJ6_OdsUyB_ezyCfyFFQmKw46-12Q3sUqjbD21SGeUNLiq3Io6yzOzQ2sm-9i7Rt49jZ6yaboeYHdJpe-XTchzZwVrFyqmtvUR6_3dunW555q9gDP1NLT9Q/s400/_MG_0251.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Turkey Vulture - Luke Tiller</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During the summer I was lucky enough to go spend a few hours at an incredible bird and raptor spot just a stone’s throw across the Kern County line from Los Angeles, CA. Here a number of California Condors spend their summer months loafing around a piece of private property that is almost the size of the five boroughs of New York! It’s amazing to see these birds back from the brink, and worth remembering that without the work of many different organizations they wouldn’t be.</span><br />
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It’s not like the California Condors are the only attraction here, we also ran into a Peregrine Falcon that was out hunting the fields (hopefully not for the cute Burrowing Owls we saw along the fence line), soaring adult Golden Eagles with a recently fledged juvenile, a myriad of dark and light calarus Red-tailed Hawks and light Swanson’s Hawk (a localized breeder in the region). Even with the other raptor goodies, I have to say that getting incredible perched and flight views of these magnificent vultures is pretty much enough in and of itself.</span><br />
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Anyway the reason I bring my weekend up, apart from birding bragging, is that I again found myself hearing that old chestnut that New World Vultures are less closely related to hawks and eagles, than they are to storks. It’s one of those stories that has an appeal as it allows the teller to discuss things like convergent evolution and, thanks to their obvious physical differences, to also get an amazed response from the person you’ve told it to. Unfortunately it’s also essentially a story that hasn’t been believed by most ornithologists for at least five years now. </span><br />
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If you’ve spent time though at a hawkwatch I’m betting it’s a story you have both heard and perhaps even told yourself. Essentially historically there have been three trains of thought with New World Vultures (Cathartidae): that they should be included in the order Ciconiiformes along with storks, that they should be included in the Accipitriformes with hawks and eagles or that they should be in an order all of their own.</span><br />
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Basically what happened is that an early DNA study (unfortunately based on erroneous data) seemed to suggest that vultures were more closely linked to storks than hawks and eagles. This was also backed up by some behavioral, morphological and karyotype similarities. Recent multi-locus DNA studies, however, now seem to suggest that the vultures are more closely related to hawks and eagles. As of current writing if you check the American Ornithologists’ Union Check-list of North American Birds you will find them sat among the Accipitriformes which includes kites, harriers, eagles and hawks among others. This decision to put them in this new order was made in the 51st supplement which is based on committee deliberations between January 2009 and March 2010 and published in the summer of 2010.</span><br />
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Interestingly the same supplement announced another big change for raptor aficionados by the AOU. I had been hearing rumors from scientists I knew, for a few years, that there was little to suggest that hawks and falcons were closely related and it was in this supplement that the AOU decided that DNA comparisons showed that these birds (which had previously been lumped in the Order Falconiformes) are not closely related. The hawks, eagles etc were split out into the new order Accipitriformes (which also included the New World Vultures ), while the Falconiformes held on to just falcons, forest falcons and caracaras. These birds were agreed to be much more closely related to parrots and passerines than they were to hawks. </span><br />
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Though the relationship between vultures and hawks is still somewhat in flux highlighted by the South American Classification Committee decision to place the birds into their own order: Cathartiformes, rather than putting them back into an order with hawks, eagles, kites, harriers etc, there is no longer much evidence to suggest that they are that closely related to storks or that they are more related to storks than they are to hawks.</span><br />
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So latest studies seem to suggest that we don’t need to worry about the validity of counting vultures at our hawkwatches, but what to do about those pesky falcons?!?</span>Luke Tillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885222370605522772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8574782419258081396.post-3023317162401911782015-08-24T11:02:00.000-07:002015-08-24T11:15:59.145-07:00Fall Hawkwatching Basics: Where and When<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4GglLnen78C7Bfo8AaW1amglcZ_60d2FdUyDzJpnlUanBfEua3nD8uMWnX0unHcsAIjvKRlqJX4XH9xXqdTVpXDIzaIf3RGjYYSTyXfqC3ba5rjjm6jrDmtee9-OBbxNAp3qrzBohMUk/s1600/207092_10150150759251447_3281239_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4GglLnen78C7Bfo8AaW1amglcZ_60d2FdUyDzJpnlUanBfEua3nD8uMWnX0unHcsAIjvKRlqJX4XH9xXqdTVpXDIzaIf3RGjYYSTyXfqC3ba5rjjm6jrDmtee9-OBbxNAp3qrzBohMUk/s400/207092_10150150759251447_3281239_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hawkwatching - Braddock Bay, NY</td></tr>
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As a seasoned hawkwatcher this is a conversation that I have had sadly all too often: on a deathly slow day someone shows up at the watch and asks ‘how is it going’. After you’ve relayed the bad news about winds from the wrong direction and a band of blocking rain to the north they say something like “but it looked like you had a great day yesterday”. <br />
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A quote I once read started ‘yesterday is a memory, tomorrow is a dream…’ and that’s the truth about hawkwatching. To get the most out of the hawkwatching experience you need to become something of an amateur meteorologist, or at least look at the weather forecast once in a while. Like much birding during migration, weather is going to play a key part in your success. Though I have been relayed charming stories about the early years of hawkwatching, that were spent looking for birds on previously set dates each fall regardless of the fact that it was perhaps pouring with rain that day, we now understand that there is a slightly more scientific approach to actually seeing some birds at a hawkwatch.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hawkwatching - Texas</td></tr>
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The rest of the quote I referenced above runs ‘…today is a gift.’, so even if you find yourself at the watch on one of those slow days don’t despair. You might still make the best of it by learning some stuff from the hawkwatcher or others there at the watch. It’s generally much easier to glean some information from hawkwatchers on slow days, when they will be thankful for some company, than on madcap days when they are trying to keep up with a huge flight. On those days it might be best advised to not talk to them at all ;) Also even on the slower days, you never know what might show up. I always say it only takes one bird to dramatically change the complexion of how a day’s birding went.<br />
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To cover the basics of Fall migration, though each watch will have its own ideal wind and weather conditions, to generalize you are looking to head out on days with northerly winds (blowing from the north – sometimes that isn’t clear to people) to bring birds southwards and hopefully past your watch. Sometimes a watch might do better on northwest winds sometimes northeast depending on the location. In fact, once you become more expert in meteorological matters and your local watches, sometimes the direction and strength winds are blowing might sway which local watch you decide to visit on a certain day. You may also want to check whether rain might dampen the flight. That said, rain is not always a reason not to head out, I have sometimes had some good days watching between light showers and often huge flights can be formed ahead of a storm system. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hawkwatching - Quaker Ridge, CT</td></tr>
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Weather discussions perhaps assumes that you even know where to go looking for a regularly staffed hawkwatch site? To find a local watch site you can check out the hawkcount website map and click the individual states to find out where your local counts are (<a href="http://hawkcount.org/sitesel.php" target="_blank">link here</a>). Some counts happen in spring, some counts are in fall and some are both. You can click on the individual site link to find out general information about each site. If you click the “migration timing” tab you can get a feel for the usual peaks and troughs of the sites season and by clicking “latest count data” you can usually gauge how regularly the watch is covered.</div>
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If you want to find out what the forecast for the hawk flight is like for the next day you can sometimes read this on the individual daily reports from reporting sites (<a href="http://hawkcount.org/day_summary.php?rsite=671&ryear=2014&rmonth=03&rday=09" target="_blank">example here</a>). These individual reports are viewable on the front page on Hawkcount (<a href="http://hawkcount.org/" target="_blank">link here</a>). As I write this post it’s currently pretty early on in the season so only a handful of sites are regularly reporting right now. Having had to write those forecasts myself and knowing how unlikely they are to be 100% accurate I understand why counters sometimes feel reluctant to complete that section, but they are more likely to when it at least looks promising the following day.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1h_dNq0Ae3OpVpOpvOAHUoZ5I11yb-KlfL4F03m_Fjowif02E3jR07YeTIjN4d5wqUpRGj1tgKCNp53ZvsRYHPv707IHEiUyGkzO1nYGj9LPeB1qQMhGJcEUc4_u4qW96XDZOVF9-iqI/s1600/photo+%25283%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1h_dNq0Ae3OpVpOpvOAHUoZ5I11yb-KlfL4F03m_Fjowif02E3jR07YeTIjN4d5wqUpRGj1tgKCNp53ZvsRYHPv707IHEiUyGkzO1nYGj9LPeB1qQMhGJcEUc4_u4qW96XDZOVF9-iqI/s400/photo+%25283%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hawkwatching - Israel</td></tr>
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Keep an eye on the HMANA blog through the fall season, as we will be posting more articles aimed at cluing in beginner and intermediate level hawkwatchers on how to get the most out of the hawkwatching experience over the next few weeks. </div>
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A version of this piece was originally posted on Luke Tiller's blog Underclearskies (<a href="http://underclearskies.com/" target="_blank">link here</a>).</div>
Luke Tillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885222370605522772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8574782419258081396.post-19099788668147094672015-08-11T09:33:00.000-07:002015-08-11T11:38:51.792-07:00Photos or it didn't happen....<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxW-mQfUEvAlr9kPoc0L0C-lKGChntD4_C7ToFPK9Nzs1n6OHPKFOADQvbAJUkq0KfWh7xYHvlbj-OCU_19HCriWE9s0TScfDWXtC8bxaPPCP6FvWJFKeDKPMsOa37zd8acb_yTgXTViE/s1600/photo+%25281%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxW-mQfUEvAlr9kPoc0L0C-lKGChntD4_C7ToFPK9Nzs1n6OHPKFOADQvbAJUkq0KfWh7xYHvlbj-OCU_19HCriWE9s0TScfDWXtC8bxaPPCP6FvWJFKeDKPMsOa37zd8acb_yTgXTViE/s400/photo+%25281%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gear - Luke Tiller</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 107%;">One of the biggest recent
developments in birding must be the invention of digital photography! In a
galaxy far, far away the acceptance of records of rare birds was often based
on years of developing your reputation with the local birding community and more
importantly perhaps the bird police (records committees). Now all one need do is snap off a
couple of shots of the rare bird you’ve witnessed and Bob’s your uncle, rarity
committee (and eBird reviewer) easily satisfied. Many citizen science projects rely on a review process to validate rare or uncommon records and this is something I believe HMANA are considering for Haw</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 107%;">kcount in the near future.</span></div>
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<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 107%;">In some ways it’s a double edged sword, now you can get rare records accepted
of birds without having to build the years of trust, but </span></span><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 107%;">it sometimes feels like we might have become
almost completely reliant on getting pics to both confirm a rarity and even to conclusively get an ID. Last Fall, for example, I was chasing Spizella sparrows through a field for a while before my friend decided rather
than chase the bird down further he’d just zoom in his camera and check the shot
of the bird in question for the median crown stripe and other features that
would ID our bird as a brighter Brewer’s or dull Clay-colored Sparrow. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Obviously we are doing our
best to collect accurate data at a hawkwatch, but let's face it, people make
mistakes. When I say people I mean everyone. Hawkwatching is tough and I’ve
seen great hawk watchers make bad calls – so imagine what us mere mortals are
up to. A quick identifying snap, often no matter how bad, can produce something
that is identifiable to support one's claims – check out the distant dark
Red-tail that we had on the HMANA Raptor ID tour in 2014 (<a href="http://www.hmana.org/raptor-id-workshop-2014/" target="_blank">report here</a>)!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWjJHWsYF4K6VOTUYINnRTEGMsfoeaKlGA0J15cnbqURE0fLAYkkeBvQ2EHQI8zPucW4NbTdRsFNP28MwsLWB7VXjGFntHvDDoePCDH85G87Hk7dP53BFXT2yBGZt09hpc9v05zpc3_ww/s1600/_MG_0110.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWjJHWsYF4K6VOTUYINnRTEGMsfoeaKlGA0J15cnbqURE0fLAYkkeBvQ2EHQI8zPucW4NbTdRsFNP28MwsLWB7VXjGFntHvDDoePCDH85G87Hk7dP53BFXT2yBGZt09hpc9v05zpc3_ww/s400/_MG_0110.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dark Red-tailed Hawk at Braddock Bay - Catherine Hamilton</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 107%;">Of course getting those
identifying shots is much easier with perched birds than it is with ones in flight.
The arts of digibinning and digiscoping aren’t really aimed at capturing soaring
birds, though the adapters at least make it almost possible. In fact I have
managed to get handheld record shots of birds in flight through the scope - like
the following Golden Eagle. That said if you thought digiscoping in general
was frustrating, and I know I do, getting flying birds is pretty near impossible in
many situations.</span></div>
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<br /><span style="background: white;">Hawkwatchers have plenty of things to do when they are juggling a busy count
day and it may be that one of the last things they want to do is think about
recording birds. That said, as well as for the nasty things in life (like
humoring eBird reviewers), cameras are there for the good things too. Everyone
knows the old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words. Raptors are
beautiful and hawk migration can be visually stunning. Having a ready supply of
great images that you can use for publicity, outreach or that you can loan to
local papers for articles are all invaluable. You can also use them just to
create a buzz on social media with birders and members of the local community
alike.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 107%;">The great thing is that you
now no longer need to break the bank to help record what is happening at your
hawkwatch. DSLR setups don’t have to cost a fortune (though they can of course)
and super zoom and bridge cameras can often be really reasonably priced.
Even better, most have decent video technology too. It certainly makes for more
fun reading when you can share images with your daily hawkwatching updates. I
loved looking at the Borrego Springs Hawkwatch blog to see how they were
faring (<a href="http://borregohawkwatch.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">link here</a>) this past Spring and keeping up with goings on at Derby Hill was made infinitely more fun by
seeing the photos Dave Wheeler would share on his hawkcount checklist (<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/krankykestrel/sets/72157649427277073" target="_blank">link to his flickr account here</a>) and the video in the following link certainly makes migration more vivid (<a href="https://vimeo.com/55095285" target="_blank">link here</a>) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0Lh_wkNp3QJuH59PpIjarxy8oa0qVXTOWFSfwN1k4n3TL22XssVairAJ4OB_jFVw4ZEu5CTEQunl6HRmt29NUX1ytBTs78-uPI9nt_fLa30et2AqK5UR98tPF63bsztVE8aIFS0tgFIA/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0Lh_wkNp3QJuH59PpIjarxy8oa0qVXTOWFSfwN1k4n3TL22XssVairAJ4OB_jFVw4ZEu5CTEQunl6HRmt29NUX1ytBTs78-uPI9nt_fLa30et2AqK5UR98tPF63bsztVE8aIFS0tgFIA/s400/photo.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Digiscoped Golden Eagle at Braddock Bay - Luke Tiller</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 107%;">One other great thing I was reminded of about
digital photography the other week, whilst out looking at California Condors, is
that it can often give you </span><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 107%;">the ability to accurately
pick up stuff like wing tags on a moving bird. They can often be almost
impossible to read through bins or scope, but with a nice photograph it is
often simple.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 107%;">So, to conclude, photographs create memories,
help keep our ID’s honest, create great promotional and outreach opportunities
and can even aid in the processes of citizen science. If you haven't already, it's a great time to invest in a camera. Over the season HMANA will share what we hope will be some
useful photography tips here on the blog. We hope they inspire!</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
Luke Tillerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885222370605522772noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8574782419258081396.post-25823098932002596222015-08-08T03:44:00.001-07:002015-08-08T03:44:28.997-07:00Looking for a few good board members<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRVqSgPDZbUUm5mmkdpcxFR4eKHbN-9FpKNhnpczzAhuZ07KhpXGqF9lp1zTUe4NIXKnDiWmisZdVkmcaGGjPDhp77CuqIsE6bH2iqIcKud1-7kLKVzwl995_wVPHPcSnNvUQO-WalGnA/s1600/HMANA+board+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRVqSgPDZbUUm5mmkdpcxFR4eKHbN-9FpKNhnpczzAhuZ07KhpXGqF9lp1zTUe4NIXKnDiWmisZdVkmcaGGjPDhp77CuqIsE6bH2iqIcKud1-7kLKVzwl995_wVPHPcSnNvUQO-WalGnA/s640/HMANA+board+2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span>Serving as a director on HMANA</span><span style="mso-hansi-font-family: Helvetica;">’</span><span>s board of directors is fun, rewarding and an important
way to help assure raptors and migration study continues into the future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now is the time for HMANA members and
prospective members to get involved in board activities for 2016.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span><o:p><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span>HMANA</span><span style="mso-hansi-font-family: Helvetica;">’</span><span>s board is comprised of nine elected and up to eight
appointed directors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Elected directors
serve three-year terms; board-appointed directors serve one-, two- or
three-year terms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Board members are
expected to participate in a majority of the board</span><span style="mso-hansi-font-family: Helvetica;">’</span><span>s monthly meetings as a minimum commitment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most board members also serve actively on one
or more of HMANA</span><span style="mso-hansi-font-family: Helvetica;">’</span><span>s 14 committees, whose work
includes overseeing HMANA award programs, directing HMANA</span><span style="mso-hansi-font-family: Helvetica;">’</span><span>s communications, managing its endowment fund,
creating and implementing development opportunities, creating raptor adventure
tours, supporting and improving HawkCount and the use and archiving of data contributed
by hawk watch sites, monitoring and working on conservation issues and assuring
appropriate governance practices.</span></span><span><o:p><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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<span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">HMANA currently is preparing the
2015 election ballot of HMANA members to serve on the board of directors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The election occurs in September, when the
board expects to fill at least three positions by election or appointment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Any HMANA member interested in serving on the
board should contact Gil Randell, whose duties as secretary include
coordinating the election and appointment process (</span></span><a href="mailto:janngil@fairpoint.net"><span class="Hyperlink0"><span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Helvetica;">janngil@fairpoint.net</span></span></span></a><span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>HMANA
members are also encouraged to suggest candidates to Gil. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is an exciting time for HMANA
with the hiring of its first full-time executive director anticipated within
the next two years along with the opening of our new office.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Work as a director on the HMANA board has
always been fun and rewarding, and is becoming even richer and more interesting
as the organization embarks on this new stage of its development.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span><o:p><span style="font-family: Helvetica;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span>If you are not quite ready for a
board term, stay tuned for a chance to serve on one of HMANA</span><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Helvetica;">’</span><span>s committees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Look for information about how to become
active on a committee in October.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span><o:p> </o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Get involved!</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span>Carolyn Hhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03179182853082650546noreply@blogger.com0