Raptor Bytes - hawkwatching morsels from around the web

Battling Bald Eagles - Steve Beal

Not sure why but these raptor notes seem to be taking on a somewhat themed feel to them. Let's just roll with it shall we?

Eagle Festivals

Mid-winter can be tough on your average raptor enthusiast what with the beginning of spring migration still over a month away. Though there’s winter bird surveys to do (link here), looking for something to really entertain the less fanatical birders in your clan isn’t always as easy. That’s why when I lived in New England I always looked forward to the area's various Eagle Festivals. Even as a hard bitten hawkcounter that has racked up daily flights of almost 100 eagles at Braddock Bay (hawkcount link), it’s hard not to still get excited by any encounter with a Bald Eagle. As anyone who has stood at a hawkwatch with a group of kids, or adults, knows, just one eagle can inspire game changing awe, so when you get the opportunity to share a bunch of them with other people you have to grab it.

Personally I worked on the Connecticut Audubon Eagle Festival in Essex on the Connecticut River for a couple of years and it was quite simply amazing. Though they stopped running the festival a few years back, they still run the eagle viewing boats (details here), and if you've never viewed Bald Eagles from a boat you haven’t lived in my honest opinion! There are also excellent events run on the Hudson River near Croton (details here) and on the Merrimack River in Newburyport and Amesbury (details here). 

What are your favorite winter raptor events? Share them in the comments section or on the link from our facebook page.

Bald Eagle - Steve Beal

Eagle Myths?

I'm sure you've all heard the story that Benjamin Franklin proposed that the Wild Turkey should be the national symbol rather than the Bald Eagle. The truth of the matter is he really didn't. What he did do was complain in a private letter to his daughter, after the eagle had been chosen as the national symbol, that veterans' organizations might be better off using the turkey rather than the eagle (a symbol often used by European monarchies) for their organizations symbols (more here). Thanks to Rick Wright for steering me towards this, his blog has lots of fascinating posts about birds including things like 'Are Bald Eagles really Bald' (link here)!

Eagles in North American Birds

The most recent North American Birds, which is published by the American Birding Association (website here) and available to members for an additional subscription, has an excellent article (here) concerning a possible White-tailed Eagle that was reported from late April at Derby Hill in 1995. Though rejected by the state rare records committee, the sighting has been included in a number of publications on raptors. This most recent paper reevaluates the report referencing important developments in White-tailed Eagle identification. It's a fascinating article and one that is well worth a read. You can also read the original NYSARC (New York State Avian Records Committee) reasons for rejecting the report on their website (here). Worth noting that Derby is one of the sites closest to Braddock Bay, will be one of the conference field trips, and the date almost corresponds to our 2014 conference date (details here)! Not sure we can promise you a repeat of a rarity of that magnitude, but it does show the incredible potential of hawkwatches in the region.

Wild Russian Eagles

Talking of Eurasian eagles, I wonder if anyone else has been catching the rather excellent Wild Russia documentary series that is being aired by Animal Planet here in the US. The Kamchatka episode had some amazing footage I rather enjoyed of dueling eagles. Though this clip doesn't show the best of it, the Golden Eagle tangling with the heftier Stellar’s Sea Eagles was incredible.

Thanks to Steven Beale for the use of the Bald Eagle shots. You can see more of his excellent work on his photo blog (here). 

The Eagle has landed: 'southern' Bald Eagle dispersal in spring

Juvenile Bald Eagle - Joseph Stevenson

'Southern' Bald Eagle migration. It’s a phenomenon that spring hawkwatches, especially along the great lakes, look forward to for late season excitement. I distinctly remember my first major flight at Braddock on May 29^th 2011 when an incredible 94 individual Bald Eagles soared past me on the day – including kettles of eagles up to nine strong and an hour where 63 birds were tallied.

Though even relatively recently I have had experienced hawkwatchers question me about the veracity of the phenomenon, it was back in the mid eighties that experienced hawkwatchers like Frank Nicoletti started to note the occurrence of these flights. As the story was related to me, during his first seasons tenure at Braddock Bay Frank noticed that a lot of the late season birds they were seeing looked like small (see Bergmann's rule), crisp and extensively dark hatch year birds – unlike the bleached and worn juveniles one would expect to see if they had hatched the previous year. Apparently he stated immediately that he believed these were hatch year birds from Florida and other Southern States.

Juvenile Bald Eagle - Joseph Stevenson

During an average season one can view this kind of flight reflected on the HMANA Hawkcount website in May at Braddock Bay (for example). In fact these flights can often be seen moving over watches into June after the official end to the season at places like Braddock and Derby Hill and those eagles can often make up a significant percentage of those days flights (example here). 

Personally, whilst counting at Braddock, I had noted up that some of the birds arriving with the Broad-wings in mid-April also appeared to have this smaller, darker, crisp appearance. It seemed to me impossible that these could be southern birds though just due to the early timing, but they sure looked right for them. That, however, would mean birds, just a couple of months out of the nest, had made it the 1000-1500 miles all the way from Southern Florida up to Rochester; it just seemed too incredible to imagine.

Juvenile Bald Eagle - Joseph Stevenson

A little research though seemed to back up the possibility, as according to the USFWS Bald Eagle egg-laying can begin during October. Given a four and a half month cycle until fledging and then a few extra weeks spent around the nest that would seem to point to the potential dispersal of these young eagles during late March. To witness this early breeding in action you can follow the nestcam of a Bald Eagle in Southwestern Florida (here), you can also see updates on their exceptionally popular facebook page (here). The feed starts in just a day or two on October 1st.

These theories at Braddock got the support of some hard evidence this year for the first time. On April 13^th one of BBRR’s stalwart banders, Dan Niven, captured a Bald Eagle at the Braddock Bay Raptor Research main blind that was already sporting a band. This was exciting enough in and of itself, but when the report was received from the bird banding lab we discovered something incredible and important, that the bird had been banded as a hatch year bird on February 5^th down in Florida (coincidentally enough by ex-BBRR bander John Newhouse). Here was definitive proof that birds that hatched that same year in Florida could make it up to Braddock Bay by mid-April as part of their dispersal.

'Southern' Bald Eagles had initially been believed to be a sedentary subspecies until banders in Florida started to actively band them. Returns of these bands showed that these birds were heading north for the summer. Check out this awesome article (here) from 1947 that Rick Wright brought to my attention after reading this post. Note firstly how far north these banded birds were recovered: PEI, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and secondly, sadly, the number recovered dead after being shot (even though the Bald Eagle Protection Act had been passed in 1940).

Juvenile Bald Eagle - Joseph Stevenson

This northbound dispersal, to me, underlines the incredible feats these birds perform and just another reason to be in awe of them. If you want to come see some of these 'southern' Bald Eagles fly, come join The Hawk Migration Association of North America and Frank Nicoletti for their Raptor ID Workshop up at Braddock Bay in early April 2014 (link here) or for HMANA's 40th Anniversary Conference in the same location later in the month (link here).

Thanks to Joseph Stevenson for the photographs of the event.

Hitchcock's Eagle Migration festival

Hitchcock Nature Center in Honey Creek IA will hold its annual HawkWatch Eagle Migration festival November 10 from 1-3 p.m. The event will include a live raptor demonstration by Raptor Recovery Nebraska, activities for children, scheduled programs and refreshments, weather permitting. Cost is $3 per person with children 5 and under admitted free. Hitchcock is one of the top hawkwatches for viewing migrating bald eagles, and November is the ideal time to see the birds on their journey south.

Hitchcock Nature Center is located 5 miles north of Crescent IA off the Old Lincoln Highway. For full directions and details about the event, visit www.pottcoconservation.com or www.facebook.com/hitchcocknaturecenter

If you would like HMANA to publicize your site’s raptor event, please contact info@hmana.org.

Two Red-tailed Hawks and a Bald Eagle

Last week I was watching a pair of local nesting and wintering Red-tailed Hawks. The pair nested in a large white pine nearby last year, successfully raising one chick. During the summer, after their young had fledged, they built at least two additional nests, one of which at least was done with the active assistance of their recently fledged bird.

The pair has apparently remained near their nesting territory during the fall and winter and, over at least the past two months at least, the male has broken off branches (see photo above) and carried them to multiple nests, where he alone appears to place and work the branches into the nest. (Not very assiduously, however. Not much time is spent working the stick around the nest, and I have not seen the female land in the nest to rework the sticks at all during non-breeding season.) Their attention to their nesting territories is merited because I have seen at least 5 other Redtails in the immediate vicinity, including four birds that appear to be western-type Red-tailed Hawks, likely winterers from eastern Canada (they are much darker overall, with dark throats, heavy rufous bibs, much heavier belly bands, and much darker backs.)

I was particularly intrigued last Tuesday when I was observing the local male (and vice versa; he clearly recognizes and tolerates me). Suddenly he took off, flying low over me and small but dense woods in the direction of a nearby dam. I just figured he was gone hunting. Within seconds, however, I had a subadult Bald Eagle fly right over me at treetop level, followed by the male adult Red-tailed Hawk, flying low right behind the eagle like a school principal ready to crack down on the intruder if it did anything wrong. It was acting like a Red-winged Blackbird that attacks a passing Red-tailed Hawk in spring, except this time the hawk did not make direct contact with the eagle. On a highway, however, the hawk would have been arrested for tailgating.

As the birds got about 30 yards down from me, the male veered off from direct pursuit and turned to kite into the wind over the primary nest tree while his somewhat larger mate shot out of the woods and replaced him on the eagle’s butt. The female adult Redtail escorted the subadult eagle out of sight, but reappeared quickly over the trees and soared up to an altitude somewhat higher than her mate, where she kited into the wind high above her territory and her mate. The two birds “hung” there for what seemed several minutes. The eagle did not reappear.

This reminded me of last March, when the last migrant Bald Eagle that I saw locally that season, flew up along the east side of the lake, just above the treetops. As the eagle passed, Red-tailed Hawk after Red-tailed Hawk came out of the woods along the lake edge and hung in the sky, kiting into the wind, clearly making their claim to the territory beneath and warning the eagle to keep moving. It reminded me of the “dirigible wall” used in Europe in the first half of the twentieth century to warn of and discourage approaching enemy aircraft. It was almost comical. This time, however, I was impressed to see the Red-tailed Hawks’ aggressiveness in protection of their nesting territory early in January! Watching this pair of suburban Red-tailed Hawks year-round is fascinating.

Look at the Hawk Watchers, Too! Not Just the Hawks.

October 29 I was hawk watching at Lighthouse Point, in New Haven, Connecticut, one of the best hawk watch sites in New England. The day was not what I had expected; the winds were far weaker than forecast and the count was only a little over 100 by early afternoon, but with a good mix, highlighted by a Peregrine perched for an hour and an immature Bald Eagle that spent some time soaring over us, trying to determine what it wanted to do.

Activity was slowing in the early afternoon, when I believe Lynn James said she had a large hawk out front. Lynn, who has incredible distance vision, said the bird was in a large gray cloud above a blue slit in heavy cloud cover. Everyone scanned for the bird and gradually we found it. People remained glued to their scopes as the bird was way out and still quite small, but acting like a very large bird. Someone had earlier remarked that the site had not had a Golden Eagle yet this season, so it was about time, though it was clearly not typical “Golden” weather.

I got on the bird fairly quickly and soon felt very good about it. It had a Red-tailed Hawk kind of dihedral, visible at great distance. The bird was quite large but gliding straight toward us without apparently moving a muscle or a wing, so we couldn’t pick up any contrast on it, much less a head/tail ratio. I think everyone was thinking “golden,” but just could not see enough to call it. As the bird angled slightly, I was able to see a bright white basal third of the long tail and the smaller head. I shouted Golden, and everyone began cheering and concurring. The excitement was palpable as the bird continued to glide towards us.

I had been hunched over my scope straining to watch this bird. When I stood up to relax for a second, I noticed that half the scopes were pointing north and half east. I shouted there must be two goldens, that half the people were looking at a different bird than I had been. Everyone looked up, and then over, and sure enough, half of us had found one golden eagle and half another. The northerly bird slowly glided over, revealing a lot of white in the flight feathers, a long rectangular white patch in each wing. My golden, following a few minutes later, had a lot less white in the wings. Strangely, after not having had a golden for two months, two occurred at the same time, They were followed by a third golden just a few minutes later, a bird with very little white in the wings or tail. It was a terrific fifteen minutes, but we all had to laugh. If one of us had not looked briefly at the hawk watchers instead of the hawks, would we have ever noticed there were TWO Golden Eagles?

Golden Eagle photograph by Joseph Kennedy. Used with permission. (Not one of the "Lighthouse" birds.)

How about those eagles?

Finally! The central and east coast weather systems have cleared, and the first decent flights of migrating hawks weren’t far behind. March 16 and 17 were the first good days for many spring hawkwatches.

West Skyline in Duluth counted (please sit down first) an amazing 679 bald eagles on March 16. Counter Karl Bardon reported the flight was very compacted with hourly counts of 218 from 12-1300 and 247 from 13-1400. Kettles of 30-40 eagles were reported. To make that sweet story even sweeter, their count of 30 Golden Eagles isthe  highest spring count for the site to date.

Red-tailed hawks generally posted good numbers elsewhere, with bald eagles also putting in a good show in a few other places. Derby Hill in New York found 156 Red-tails on March 17, and nearby Braddock Bay posted 100 on the 16th. The days were also good ones for variety at these New York Sites.

Even the sites that didn’t find great numbers of birds weren’t complaining about the weather.

Always check behind you!

Merlins are well known for their aerobatic shenanigans with other raptors during migration. And a lot of Merlin hits are taken by innocent watchsite owls (Bubo plastiptero) at lookouts across the continent. B.plastiptero also suffers antagonism from Sharp-shinned Hawks and occasionally, Cooper's Hawks.

During the autumn of 2009, however, observers at New Hampshire's Little RoundTop Migration Observatory were witness to the determined harassment of Bald Eagles by Cooper's Hawks. Passing Merlins seemed intent on zooming toward their migration goals, the occasionally mischievous Sharpie might dive-bomb a Broad-wing or Red-tail, but the Coops seemed particularly intent on needling other birds. We watched them go for Broadies, ravens, Red-tails, and even a Kestrel, but it was their pestering of Baldies that captured our attention. We would wonder, "How long is s/he going to keep that up?" And keep it up they would, sometimes all over the sky.

Always the target bird would seem undeterred and continue on its way with only the slightest discernable twitch of primaries. This sort of drama does present a problem for site leaders, because...

as everyone is watching the show, there's a chance that something really good is flying past behind them!

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.

Which was the first hawkwatch to open for the fall season?

Which hawkwatch was the first to officially open to count hawks this fall season?

That would be Waggoner’s Gap, near Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Waggoner’s opened this year on August 1 and had through Thursday so far counted 1052 migrating raptors this season.

Their current tally includes a great total of 121 Bald Eagles. I visited the hawkwatch this past Sunday and managed to spot an eagle that turned out to be eagle #100 for the season. Broad-winged Hawk numbers are also starting to increase here and elsewhere ahead of their annual mid-September push.

Waggoner's compiler, and one of their regular counters, is Dave Grove. Waggoner’s is one of our older hawkwatches. People have watched here since the 1930’s, but counts weren’t recorded until 1948.

The rocky watch site on the border between Cumberland and Perry counties was in private hands until 1953, when it was purchased by the Reineman Wildlife Sanctuary Trust. In 2001 20 acres, including the hawkwatch, was deeded to Pennsylvania Audubon. Since then improvements such as a bigger parking lot and new trails were built.

Waggoner’s regularly counts between 5-8,000 "Broadwings" (Broad-winged Hawks) each year. In each of the past four years they’ve topped 300 Bald Eagles and for the past 10 years or so 200+ Golden Eagles. The total count for a season is often over 20,000 hawks. If you want to visit, add a good cushion to your daypack—those rocks never get any softer!

Thursday on the hawkwatches: Several hawkwatches, the majority in Pennsylvania, posted some nice Broad-winged Hawk numbers on Thursday. Allegheny Front led everyone with a total count of 651 (626 Broadwings), closely followed by Hawk Mountain with a total of 658 (535 Broadwings) and the nearby Bake Oven Knob with 474 (429 were Broadwings). Outside of Pennsylvaniva, Little Round Top in New Hampshire wasn't so little with 477 (431 Broadwings), ahead even of Lake Erie Metropark in the total number of Broadwings seen. Lake Erie had more total hawks, 495, than Little Roundtop but slightly fewer Broadwings with 367.