Wordless Wednesday...

American Kestrel - Luke Tiller

California (raptor) dreamin'....

     In February the Bear Valley, like many other parts of California, is green with spring.  Farms, orchards, and vineyards carpet the valley floor.  Bordered on the west by the Gavilan Mountains and on the east by the southern Diablo Range, the valley is a visible manifestation of the San Andreas fault.  A quiet two-lane highway runs the western length of this striking landscape, a road enough off the beaten path that one can pull off to the side without fear of causing a traffic catastrophe.  And that's a boon to birders, especially hawk gawkers.

     It was one gorgeous late February day that we ventured southward from Hollister along the verdant fields and hillsides. The valley must be home to uncountable small furry critters and lizards and other tasty fare because we saw raptors almost everywhere.  A wide range of behaviors were exhibited: many were hunting, some of the birds were in dramatic courtship displays, some were engaged in what appeared to be territorial disputes, some were migrating, and some were possibly hangers-on from winter, not quite ready to head north.  

photo by S. Fogleman

     Red-tailed Hawks predominated, providing great opportunities to study a wide range of color variation.  I believe I have come to love the dark Western morph the most.  American Kestrels seemed to be everywhere, and I think I can truthfully state that I have never seen so many in one day anywhere other than a coastal migration watchsite.  They hover-hunted over fields, they were perched on utility lines, on fence posts, on small saplings.  They pestered Red-tails, they pulled the wings off large insects, they preened, they mated, and made us wonder if this was the Kestrel Shangri-la.

     Northern Harriers were probably the next most numerous, with silvery adult males as well as "brown" birds drifting back and forth above the grasses and marshy areas, and sometimes sitting on a fence. Red-shouldered Hawks were often perched on utility poles along the road.  We spotted the occasional Merlin zipping along parallel to the road, or perched on a snag on the steep slopes on our west side.  Here and there a delicate-looking White-tailed Kite captured our attention. Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks were frequently spotted.  A side trip up into Pinnacles National Monument rewarded us with awesome albeit too-fast-to-get-the-camera views as a Prairie Falcon whipped over us at about 30 feet.

     When the frequency of Golden Eagle sightings equals what you might have of Red-tails in the East, you know you're in great raptor country.  Two Goldens acting a bit "courtship-ish" caught our attention as we scanned a horse pasture below us.  At another stop one appeared to be mantling over prey .  Sometimes, while watching a pair of Red-tails in the sky, a Golden would drift into view.  Then there'd be one that was perched on a rocky outcropping, or the archway of a ranch entrance.  At overlook pull-offs where we would be looking down on these birds, their golden nuchal feathering gleamed in the afternoon sunshine.

     Best of all to this Easterner, were the Ferruginous Hawks.  I spotted the first one when we were still about 400 meters north of it as it perched on a fence post.  It was definitely a "wow" moment for me, but the next three or four sightings of that species were just as "wow," as each of those long-winged buteos made certain we appreciated their majesty.

Ferruginous Hawk - photo by W. Fogleman

     Had we visited a week later would we have seen as many raptors?  Would we have seen as much diversity(12 species, including the abundant Turkey Vultures)?  What might it have been like a month earlier in that valley?  Perhaps some light could be shed on the situation by systematic monitoring such as the Winter Raptor Survey.  I'd volunteer, except that I live 3000 miles away!

Ghosts of a Chance

I do much of my spring hawk watching on Plum Island, at the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge in Massachusetts, where the stars are potentially hundreds of kestrels and maybe a dozen or more Merlins on a great flight day. Under optimal conditions, the birds are low, moving up the barrier beach, and providing spectacular views. Despite standing merely two or three feet above sea level, you are able to look down on dozens, occasionally hundreds, of falcons slicing into the wind (not all at once)!

However, most of the time, you are looking for a handful of individuals per day. Winds from the north or east are essentially the kiss of death. On sunny days with warm southwest winds, individual hawks may be soaring high into a clear blue sky and even pass unnoticed. If they are discovered, they are often classified in the same category as “noseeums.” Not rewarding to say the least. If the southwest winds aren’t very strong, a bone-chilling sea breeze kicks in, so you in your winter coat and gloves are looking at nothing while five miles inland people are working in their yards or gardens in t-shirts and shorts. The past two days with warm but weak southwest winds, counters had a total of 4 birds in about 8 hours. Even though we can’t see the water on the other side of the dunes, at least we did have several adult gannets right on the beach.

At Plum, we pray for strong, gusty winds somewhere out of the west, preferably west or northwest. It pushes birds towards the coast and keeps them low on the barrier beach. A good day has dozens of kestrels and handfuls of Merlins, while a great day can produce hundreds of kestrels and dozens of Merlins. Wednesday, April 8 proved to be one of the best hawk days I’ve ever had on the island. Over 390 hawks, including at least 306 kestrels, 10 Merlins, 2 Peregrines, a Bald Eagle, and 56 Northern Harriers.

I love harriers, one of my favorite hawks, but this flight was incredible. We had at least 28 adult males and 21 adult females, with 7 immature or unaged birds, and we had a feeling we were missing some birds going over the marsh low in the distance. Almost all these birds were on the deck, only several feet off the ground, and usually passing within 30-50 yards. I’ve never seen so many adult males in one day, or adult females, and so well. Normally, you don’t see the fine vermiculation on the adult males, but this day it was evident on almost every one, and the subtle shades of gray defy description. The females stood out for their mature, grayish brown backs and the notable streaking on their upper breasts. Several were the most grizzly grayish females I've ever seen. I saw more varied adult plumages, and more clearly, than I ever have seen before. (This likely is a state record count of Northern Harriers from my initial search, but a little more digging must be done to be sure.)

The kestrels alone would have made for a spectacular day, but the Gray Ghosts were just incredible. It is a bit sobering to have been hawk watching for almost forty years and realize that you have never seen anything close to this for one of your favorite species, and you are unlikely to ever do so again. I have just a ghost of a chance....


Photo courtesy of Joseph Kennedy. Used with permission.

Hawks are on the move!

Now that the big nor’easter that blocked up most of the U.S. east coast has cleared, the migration portal is open again for Broad-winged Hawks and everything else too. As a result, Sunday was an excellent migration day almost everywhere.

Hawk Cliff, Corpus Christi, Booth Hill and Detroit River Hawkwatch (Lake Erie Metropark) all posted results over 1,000 migrants, with 3,772 at Hawk Cliff, 2,194 at the Texas site, 1,030 at Booth Hill, and 1,155 at Detroit River. Veracruz, of course, tops all the northern sites, with 7,251.

Many other sites posted results in the mid- to upper-hundreds, especially at the Vermont, New Hampshire and Ontario sites, so birds are on the way south. In a few of the many individual highlights, Caesars Head in South Carolina counted 782 Broadwings; Stone Mountain in Pennsylvania tallied 682; Militia Hill near Philadelphia 624; Shatterack Mountain in Massachusetts posted 609; Quaker Ridge, 586; Putney Mountain in Vermont found 528.

More than half of Corpus Christi’s total for the day was Mississippi Kites, with 1,185, which brings their season total so far to 19,637. On Saturday at Veracruz, Mexico, 6,166 Mississippi Kites were counted, bringing their season total so far to an astounding 159,933 out of a total of 163,041 migrants.

Cape Henlopen in Delaware counted 143 ospreys on Sunday, more than half of its total count for the day. And the 51 merlin counted there was a nice number, too.

Waggoner’s Gap in Pennsylvania counted 28 Bald Eagles, threatening their one-day record of 30. Eagles outnumbered the ospreys counted there for the day.

Hawk Cliff counted 289 American Kestrel among its excellent numbers for the day. Kestrel have thus far been in short supply again this year.