First hawkwatches open!

It’s fall! Or at least the first of the fall hawkwatches are open for business. Waggoner’s Gap near Carlisle PA, was the first to open, starting their season on August 1. Nearby Second Mountain wasn’t far behind, first counting on August 3. More hawkwatches, including Hawk Mountain PA, Corpus Christi TX and Hawk Ridge MN, opened on August 15. At last count so far 14 North American hawkwatches have put in at least one count day at their sites.

And the results? It’s mostly been slow, of course, though numbers are ever-building. Hawk Ridge’s 167 raptors on August 18 can boast the largest daily total. Corpus Christi tallied 160 on the same day. No other sites have yet reported triple digit counts, but most have now posted double-digit days. The other high counts were Waggoner’s Gap with 87 on August 18; Hawk Mountain with 74 on August 16; and Bake Oven Knob, PA, and Rockfish Gap, VA, with high totals of 62 and 61.

Corpus Christi’s total was boosted by 130 Mississippi Kites on August 18, the first day with more than 4 of those. Hawk Ridge’s total includes 139 Broad-winged Hawks seen on August 18. They also had 10 Bald Eagles that day.

It’s the third week of August, and hawkwatches from Maine to south Texas are now open. Whatever the weather, that can only mean one thing—it’s fall!

HawkCount Now and Forever.

It’s that time of year again. It’s time to dust off your binoculars and head out to your favorite watchsite.  Raptors are on the move! In fact, this week is the start of many hawk watches across North America. Happy fall migration!

While it’s the season for counting raptors, likewise it’s also HawkCount season! HMANA’s HawkCount database sees its heaviest traffic during the fall season as hawk watchers check out what’s being seen across the map. Aside from the up to date hourly and daily summaries, they are checking site profile details, species stats and viewing the new trend graphs as part of the 2011 RPI analysis.

HawkCount.org is a service to the hawk-watching community and is open to everyone free of charge and free of advertising. We intend to keep it that way. Much of its development has been accomplished by volunteers and the content is contributed voluntarily by hawkwatchers. Anyone can use this information, restricted only according to the wishes of the contributors who own the data.

This past fall, we asked friends and users of HawkCount to help provide support for HawkCount.org by making a donation or by sponsoring the web pages of their favorite hawk watch sites.  With your help, we’ve raised over $5000 so far, all of which goes towards the general maintenance and improvement of the web site and data archive.

Become a Site Sponsor at a Special Discounted Rate!  Until October 31, new or renewed Accipiter level sponsorships will be available for a minimum donation of $50, instead of the regular $75.

Sponsorships are open to individuals and organizations. Your name (or the organization’s name) will be displayed on that site’s pages and the funds go towards sustaining all the great services that HawkCount.org offers. If you belong to an organization that supports a hawk watch, ask your organization to sponsor the hawk watch’s pages; or suggest a joint site sponsorship to your site coordinator.  Sponsorships received this fall will be effective to 31 December, 2013.  

Already a Site Sponsor? Renew your sponsorship!

If you made your donation last fall, your sponsorship will run out December 31, 2012. Take advantage of the special Accipiter level discount until Oct 31 and renew online or by mail by downloading the Watch Site Page Sponsorship Form.

For more information, please visit www.HawkCount.org and click on the Learn More or Donate Now in the box at the bottom of the page: or, in October, click on the banner at the top of the page.

For more information about Raptor Population Index (RPI) and the recent 2011 analysis, please visit www.rpi-project.org.

And thanks for your support!

Photo: hawkwatchers scan the skies at Pack Monadnock Raptor Migration Observatory, NH

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!

Kittatinny Roundtable

John Reed from Picatinny Peak NJ holds aloft the "coveted" blinking eagle award as Gene Wagner from Waggoner's Gap PA looks on

For some years now, Hawk Mountain Sanctuaryhas hosted an annual Kittatinny Roundtable, which gathers watchsite compilers from Pennsylvania and New Jersey to discuss the previous year’s raptor migration results. The day-long event is a good way for hawk people to get together and talk about hawks in the off-season. A good-natured rivalry about who had the “big day” this past year is always part of the mix, too.

And it’s not just talk about the numbers, either, as attendees always get to hear a presentation about some interesting point of research. This year, Nick Bolgiano presented about changes in Red-tailed Hawk migration and the declines in migration results for the species at many hawkwatches. He used data from HawkCount, Christmas Bird Counts, Breeding Bird Surveys and banding results to show how all the data sources confirm Redtails are staying further to the north than previously and are often wintering over. He was able to track this northward wintering through many years of data and show how it has progressed ever northward decade by decade.

Hawk Mountain will be recording migrants with and without crops this fall and asked that other sites along ridge consider doing the same. Counters will decide “crop” or “no crop” for every bird that passes close enough to see a crop. The plan is to use evidence of raptor feeding as an index to the health of the habitat along the ridge that might be impacting birds’ feeding. Contact Laurie Goodrich at goodrich at Hawkmtn dot org if you’d like more details for your own site.

In looking at the spring 2012 results from the ten sites that attended, some interesting details emerged. Allegheny Front PA recorded its highest Northern Goshawk count in 12 years of counting this past spring. Tussey Mountain recorded 212 Golden Eagles, its second highest total.

The totals from fall 2011 also contained some nuggets. For the second year, Waggoner’s Gap PA tallied the most eagles seen in the region, a total of 700, 230 of them were Golden Eagles and 470 were Bald Eagles. Allegheny Front recorded the highest total of Golden Eagles with 279. Picatinny Peak NJ had the biggest Broad-winged Hawk day with 6201 on September 17, but Scott’s Mountain, NJ, had the most for the season, with 14,227.

November 2011 turned out to have disappointing results for nearly all the sites, primarily because the day after the big eastern snowstorm in October produced record migration days on October 30 and 31. The group felt that big weather system pulled birds into October that normally would migrate in early November.

Predictions for this fall? Speculation is that it might be a good year for Ospreys, based on the number of young seen at nesting sites. Also, the country-wide, ongoing drought might push birds to head south earlier than is typical. Whatever the results, you can be sure these counters won’t miss any of the action!

HMANA 2012 Fall Conference - "Counting for the Future"

The Hawk Migration Association of North America is excited to present its 2012 Conference “Counting for the Future” hosted by The National Audubon Society at the Audubon Center in Greenwich, Connecticut.  The conference will be held on October 13 and 14, during peak migration season at one of New England’s oldest Hawk Watch sites, Quaker Ridge. 

To sustain and advance raptor conservation, “Counting for the Future” will seek to actively engage participants in bird conservation efforts, with a strong emphasis on educating the next generation of hawk watchers.  The conference will feature an array of scientific presentations, panel discussions, raptor identification workshops, and field trips to local hawk watch sites and birding hotspots.

Registration is open to all raptor enthusiasts!  Conference activities will begin at 8:00AM Saturday, October 13th and continue throughout the day. A social event on Saturday evening will be held prior to our keynote address. Activities will continue throughout the day on Sunday, October 14^th, and will wrap up at 5:00PM.

The conference will feature keynote speaker Peter Dunne, noted author, bird conservationist, Chief Communications Officer for New Jersey Audubon, and the Director of Cape May Bird Observatory. Sponsored by Swarovski Optik, Mr. Dunne will look back on his amazing career and highlight, in his keynote address “Islands in the Cloud Stream:  A Reflection on 36 Years of Hawk Watching,” the events and people that profoundly influenced his work.

A full program schedule will be available soon.  A handful of conference activities are listed below.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS:

• Raptor Population Index Project Update – New North American Population Trend Results. Presented by Julie Brown, HMANA Monitoring Site Coordinator
• Osprey Satellite Tracking.  Presented by Dr. Robert Bierregaard, University of North Carolina
• Raptor Photography – A Seasonal Approach.  Presented by Steven Sachs
• Red-tailed Hawk Natal Dispersal at Braddock Bay.  Presented by Daena Ford
• Golden Eagle Satellite Tracking.  Presented by Mike Lanzone
• Bald Eagle Restoration in NY State. Presented by Mike Allen, retired Wildlife Technician from the NY Department of Environmental Conservation
• Raptor Education: Everybody’s Doing It.  Presented by Rodney Olsen, Special Education Teacher from Addison Central Schools in Vermont
• Using Raptor Nestcams for Educational Outreach.  Presented by Laura Erickson, educator & author
• Raptor Education Panel Discussion 

OTHER ACTIVITIES:

• Digi-scoping and optics demonstrations by Swarovski Optik
• Hawkwatching on site at Quaker Ridge Hawkwatch
• Hawk Identification Workshops for all skill levels
• Early morning bird walks on the grounds of Greenwich Audubon
• Live Raptors from the Sharon Audubon Center

FIELD TRIPS

Saturday, October 13 - Chestnut Ridge Hawkwatch, New York

Located in the southern foothills of the Taconic Mountains this hawkwatch sits at the highest point in The Nature Conservancy’s Arthur W. Butler Sanctuary, Bedford Hills, NY.  Chestnut Ridge has been operated by the Bedford Audubon Society for over 30 years. Season totals average 10,000 to 15,000 raptors of 16 species.  Just last year, counters tallied 9,655 Broad-winged hawks in a single day, which is more than a typical season’s count! 

Sunday, October 14 - Lighthouse Point, Connecticut

Located at Lighthouse Point Park, in New Haven along the Long Island Sound.  This hawkwatch is a coastal plain site which receives impressive numbers of falcons and accipiter in the fall season. 

Visit the HMANA Conference webpage for registration information.  Hope to see you there!  

Okay Folks, let's keep it CLEAN!!

Okay.  You’ve just spent a substantial chunk of your life scouring the skies for birds, taking careful systematic counts of everything you see.  (For some of you, we’re talking hundreds of hours spent in one place!)  The daily forms for each count day are in your possession, the data is submitted to HawkCount, and all the original paperwork is filed away for safekeeping.  Mission accomplished!  But wait!  Just how “clean” is your data?

Most veteran hawkwatchers I know pride themselves on the quality of their fieldwork.  They’ve developed their ID skills after years of practice, and putting a name with reliable ease to most every raptor they see is something they have every right to be proud of.  But at the end of the day, what happens to all those paper forms with the tiny boxes of numbers they’ve scrawled all over them?  Does your hawkwatch have a procedure for handling data?  If it doesn’t, I implore you think seriously whether it might need one.

I raise this issue now as the end of spring hawkwatching season draws near, because I’ll admit I’m easily impressed by the large stack of count sheets presently on my desk.  After all, I worked hard to collect nearly all of that data, and I try very hard to be a careful/conscientious counter.  But an integral part of the job of counting hawks is to see that the data collected can actually be used, and for this to happen, it must be correct!  And for it to be correct, it must be checked through thoroughly, line by line, to see that the paper forms are faithfully transcribed electronically to HawkCount.  So these count sheets on my desk are not yet a finished product, despite appearances to the contrary.  I’ll admit that this is possibly the least glamorous aspect of counting hawks I can imagine, but it’s of paramount importance to the science side of it.  And I think it’s much too easy, especially in this age of nearly realtime HawkCount posting, to come back at the end of the day and quickly bang out the day’s results for all your eager fans waiting to see them and be done with it.  But after spending a full day on the hill, you’re probably tired.  You can barely see straight!  And now you’re going to take aim with your mouse and cursor at more little boxes on your computer screen and expect perfection.  This is unrealistic.  I don’t care who you are, you’re going to make mistakes!  And this, too, is part of the job of counting hawks.

So I’d like to make a special request of you: if you don’t already, make a point to take as much pride in the correctness of your data as you do in your skills at identifying birds.  Whether you audit the data yourself at a later time or designate someone willing (and able) to do it, just ensure that it gets done.  And if you must do it yourself, try to approach it with fresh eyes rather than a mind clouded by fatigue, which is why it’s almost always a bad idea to try to audit the data yourself the very day it was collected.

My personal ritual is to export the submitted data from HawkCount as an MS Excel worksheet (ask your site coordinator to do this for you if you don’t have direct access to your HawkCount profile), and then I’ll tote my laptop with me down to a coffee shop that offers free wireless internet.  In the midst of a caffeinated buzz while wearing headphones to cloud out the surrounding din, I’ll step through the spreadsheet on the computer cell-by-cell while tracing through the stack of daily forms sitting before me with an index finger.  (I imagine it might be entertaining to watch me work!)  My preference for coffee shops with WiFi is twofold: a) it’s perfectly acceptable in many coffee shops (e.g., Starbucks) for one person to spread out his paperwork and things all over a table for several hours at a time and only order a few soy Café au laits, and b) having internet access means I can correct errors on HawkCount as I discover them, and also allows me to take breaks and screw off a little when my eyes begin to glaze over.  Admittedly, coffee houses are not cheap in an absolute sense.  But we’re not talking about making them a daily habit.  We’re talking about spending $10 on your pleasure as an *investment* in the quality of your count data, and this begins to look especially cheap given the amount of time you’ve already invested in counting birds.  (And if coffee is not your thing, do what you can to make the job slightly more pleasurable/rewarding if you find the task as monotonous as I do.)

So getting back on track: accurate counts are at the core of what we do.  Do what you possibly can to make sure they really count!

Good Hawkwatching,
Arthur

Afternoon of the Condor

Southbound.  California Highway 1, along that spectacular piece of our planet called Big Sur.  This particular February day was sunny with some ocean haze screening really good looks at Grey Whales migrating just off-shore.  We stopped frequently to admire vistas, examine flora, search for geocaches and, of course, look at birds.  Raptors can abound along the steep slopes bordering the eastern side of the road, and that day we saw numerous Red-tailed Hawks of various color morphs.  There were Kestrels, a few Cooper's Hawks and a Sharpie.  But we kept our eyes on the high ridges, scanning for The Prize of the Day.  We'd had reports that three California Condors were being frequently seen along a particular stretch of Route 1, soaring just above the ridges.  Every once in a while a distant Turkey Vulture would cause our hearts to skip a beat, but as the day wore on, we began to think we weren't going to be lucky Condor-spotters.

We had stopped at a sizeable pull-off opposite a deep canyon which led up toward the high country of the Ventana Wilderness.  No soaring condors in the sky above the fire-scarred peaks.   Turkey Vultures.  A couple of Red-tails.  A Cooper's. We debated going "just a couple more miles maybe?" versus turning and heading back north.  Suddenly a bright white splotch high on a very steep wooded slope above towering ledges caught my husband's eye.

California Condors, Big Sur February 2012
from video clip; Susan Fogleman all rights reserved

Condors!  Three of them!  Two appeared to be full adults, and the third looked a little younger. Nearly a half-mile above us they were perched on a dead redwood trunk that had lodged among its neighbors when it fell. As we cheered our good fortune, we saw one of the adult birds open its wings, and next thing we realized it was standing on the back of the other adult.  Mating California Condors!  Elated, we watched, photographed and filmed the birds for almost an hour as they preened, changed positions on their perch, and basked in the afternoon sunshine. During that time we observed the adult birds copulating three times.  We were able to share our telescope views with many people who stopped to see what we were looking at.  

For recent information about the Condor Recovery Project and the efforts of the Ventana Wildlife Society check out the newsletter Ventana News and also click on links you can find there.  According to the VWS  condorblog as of April 25 this year there were seven nests in central CA, at least 5 were still active, and two of those have nestlings. I'd like to think that one of those chicks is the offspring of the birds we saw that February afternoon.

photo by W. Fogleman  2/2012