HMANA Raptor ID Workshop 2016 - Be there or be.....

2014 HMANA ID Workshop at Braddock Bay - Luke Tiller

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. 

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.

Rough-legged Hawk from HMANA ID Workshop 2015 - Luke Tiller

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. 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. 

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 (hawkcount report here), 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 (hawkcount report here). 

Saw-whet Owl from HMANA ID Workshop 2014 - Luke Tiller

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. 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 (here), and if the birding gods really smile upon us there is always the chance of something like this 37K raptor flight being  repeated(read about it on Luke's blog here).

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, to see where much of the work was undertaken to reintroduce Bald Eagles to New York State and beyond.

2014 HMANA ID Workshop at Braddock Bay - Luke Tiller

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.

You can check out reports from previous year’s tours on our website and find out how to make bookings for the tour (here). You can check out a photo album of some of last years tour (here).

HMANA Raptor ID Workshop 2015 report

HMANA Workshop at Braddock Bay

HMANA’s raptor ID workshop is held in early April for a few very good reasons: Spring migration is much more compact than Fall which means seeing a good variety of different species over a week is much more likely than in say September. Early April specifically also gives you a great chance of seeing both adult and juvenile birds of many species and the end date of the tour also means that we have a great chance of running into the first Broad-winged Hawks of the season.

With all that taken into consideration the weather in Western New York in early April is, shall we say, temperamental at best. It helps that workshop leaders Frank Nicoletti and I both have a number of seasons experience counting at Braddock and have a pretty good feel for where might be good on what days depending on the forecast. Monday the 6th of April wasn’t promising much at Braddock or Derby Hill but the weather forecast to our west looked enticing enough that even with a late start to the day (to allow for arrivals from Vermont and sleep ins from California) we decided to roll the dice and head the hour and a half west for a ‘lifer’ hawkwatch for all concerned: Hamburg.  

Just south of Buffalo we arrived to find the Hamburg watch tallying a nice little flight of Red-shouldered Hawks, including a good number of adults. We also got treated to a few Ospreys, some Red-tailed Hawks (including a good number of heavily marked birds) and got to compare a few accipiters. The volunteer crew there made us feel very welcome and it was great to run into old friends (Alec Humann and Rick Bacher)  and make some new ones (counter Mike Zebehazy). They ended their day with almost 1500 birds, a nice count by anyone’s standards. We also ran into a couple of nice species for the trip including both Vesper and Field Sparrows and a beautiful wintering Red-headed Woodpecker. The days flight details (here). 

Osprey - Luke Tiller

The next two days (Tuesday 7th and Wednesday 8th) weren’t looking too promising for much in the way of raptor flight, but we kept our spirits up by exploring some of the other birding opportunities the region has to offer. We had soon swept up a nice array of waterfowl including a rare Tufted Duck in Ithaca and explored the myriad of open country habitats that make Montezuma NWR such a jewel of the New York birding scene. Montezuma is also the site where much of the reintroduction of Bald Eagles to the state was done and is still a popular nesting area for these birds. As well as some nice views and photo ops of the Bald Eagles we managed to dig up a few interesting gulls: Glaucous, Lesser Black-backed and Kumlien’s/Iceland and some cool waterfowl like Trumpeter Swans and Snow Geese.

The promise of a decent southeast winds and perhaps a flight Thursday saw us up at 5:30am and winging our way two hours east from our base in Rochester to Mexico, New York and the Derby Hill Hawkwatch. As we started to pull up to the site Frank and I already had a good feeling, the winds were right and clouds of blackbirds and American Robins were winging their way over the site. This is what it’s all about as far as I am concerned - the majesty and magic of migration. In the mix were Snow Buntings, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, Common Redpolls and Rusty Blackbirds aplenty and after a couple of hours the raptors began to pick up. 

The great thing about good flights at Derby is that when the winds are right the birds are almost directly over your head. This makes for a great learning experience. Derby is also kind enough to provide you with a set of numbered posts to help you describe where on the horizon a bird may be found (something for more watches to consider surely?).

Raptor highlights of the day included killer views of multiple Rough-legged Hawks and one very accommodating Golden Eagle that came right past us. We owed a big thanks to the whole Derby Hill crew for such a warm welcome, they really went all out to accommodate the needs of the group! Details of the days flight (here).

Rough-legged Hawk - Luke Tiller

Friday saw us with something of a conundrum, initially forecasts had shown potential for another good day at Derby and a day at Braddock that could be great or dismal depending on how long the rain held off. A late change to the forecast that showed potential for rain at Derby had us second guessing the two hour drive out there and back and instead focussing our energies back on Braddock Bay. 

We pulled up in the morning at Braddock Bay’s renowned West Spit to be greeted by both a light adult male Rough-legged Hawk and a Alfred Hitchcockesque flight of more blackbirds and robins. We knew we’d made a good call. Again there was a mix of goodies in the passerine flight including an impressive number of Northern Flickers, a Wilson’s Snipe and a few Purple Finches. The excitement was rapidly building but so were the clouds and after an hour or so of mainly passerine flight the skies opened and torrents of rain poured down - the perfect time to go replenish our caffeine at Tim Hortons. As skies lightened again we headed back to West Spit and the flight started up again with a bang as a juvenile Northern Goshawk bustled across the tree line in front of us giving great views.

The winds on the day really started to pick up in the late morning and we found ourselves moving in order to stay in touch with a flight that was pushing inland - not through wind direction but from the birds desire to stay away from the potential danger of the water. From our new sheltered spot we managed to pick up the two incredible highlights of the day: two adult dark Swanson’s Hawks! This was a repeat of last year’s amazing sightings but instead of being spread over two days, this took place on one.

The push of raptors was both exciting and educational - allowing great comparisons between species - even such unexpected ones as Rough-legged and Swainson’s Hawk. The raptors eventually petered out late in the day, but that just gave us the chance to stop in at Owl Woods to find a cute little Northern Saw-whet Owl. An incredible day - even more so given the early week forecast! Flight details (here). 

Northern Saw-whet Owl - Luke Tiller

The next two days saw the group back at Braddock Bay. Saturday carried the responsibility of heading up the Braddock Bay/HMANA Raptorthon event (details here).  Over the day the group and leaders tallied a highly respectable 14 species of raptors (including the tour’s only Peregrine Falcon and the season’s first Broad-winged Hawks) and 75 species of birds in total including both Long-eared Owl and a flyby Glaucous Gull! The final evening together as a group was spent sharing stories of the week and a few good local beers at the Old Toad Pub.

Sunday morning saw us again pick up a small but nicely mixed flight of passerines and raptors before long journeys home dragged participants reluctantly to the airport or to their awaiting cars. After a less than auspicious weather forecast at the beginning of the week it had turned into a great week with incredible and memorable passerine and raptor flights enjoyed, great learning experiences shared, and new friendships made. Over the week the group had tallied flights with almost 10,000 raptors of 16 different species and 124 species of birds overall including the Tufted Duck which was a life or North American bird for almost all concerned. I can’t wait to do it all again next year. Watch the HMANA website for upcoming details (events page here).

Tour Report: HMANA Raptor ID Workshop 2014

Sharp-shinned Hawk - Catherine Hamilton

 Seven days on the Great Lakes plus a great week of weather divided by two expert hawkwatchers equals 10,928 diurnal raptors of fifteen different species! This is the story of HMANA’s 2014 Raptor ID Workshop.

Held between April 6 and April 12, the workshop assembled participants from the far flung corners of the United States in order to witness the diversity of raptor migration around the Great Lakes and to hone their proficiency as hawkwatchers. A major draw was the rare opportunity to spend a week learning from perhaps one of the most accomplished raptor experts in the country: Frank Nicoletti. Across the board, by the end of an unbelievable week of hawkwatching, everyone’s skills had been sharpened, friendships had been made an incredible number of raptors had been tallied.

Tired but happy hawkwatchers - Catherine Hamilton

In all, over the week, we totaled 135 species of birds. Highlights included: two stunning adult dark Swainson’s Hawks that graced Braddock Bay on back to back days, a Black Vulture - in a down season for them, good numbers and great views of Golden Eagles -especially at Derby Hill. We were also treated to a variety of flavors of Red-tailed Hawks: Dark/rufous morph adults, a Krider’s-like adult (are there many really pure ones left?) and plenty that fitted the seemingly refashionable albieticola subspecies. Rough-legged Hawks of all ages and sexes also put on a great show too, which is always a treat.

Among the non-raptors bugling Sandhill Cranes passed over the watch, we enjoyed the haunting calls of Common Loons from the lake, a collection of rare King Eiders on the bay, Red-headed Woodpeckers foraging at our feet, Purple Martins, Snowy Owls, Lapland Longspurs, Saw-whet Owls, Snow Buntings, Long and Short-eared Owls, Northern Shrike: the list goes on and on and on.

You can see details for the 2015 Workshop on the HMANA Website (here). We hope to see you there.

2014 participants - Catherine Hamilton

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.

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.