Fall hawkwatching season already heating up!

The first hawkwatches are already counting and reporting data to HawkCount.  Even though few have been open for longer than a week, some interesting results are already showing up.

At two Pennsylvania sites, Hawk Mountain and Waggoner’s Gap, each has posted a record early date for the first merlin sighting.  The first merlin was seen at Waggoner’s on August 5 and at Hawk Mountain on August 15.  Waggoner’s also posted a record early Peregrine Falcon sighting on August 4.  Not to be outdone, Corpus Christi in Texas posted its first Peregrine sighting on its first official count day on August 10.  The site’s first merlin sighting came the next day on August 11.

August 17 was Corpus’ first four-digit day of the fledgling raptor season. They tallied 2802 Mississippi Kites.  August 16 wasn’t bad for the kites either, with 550 counted.

The new season has barely started and already it’s giving us something to talk about!

Calling all dragonfly enthusiasts!

HMANA has some exciting news about a fun new research opportunity and we’d like to invite you to take part. Starting this year, HMANA is partnering with the Migratory Dragonfly Partnership to assist in the better understanding of dragonfly migration. 

The Migratory Dragonfly Partnership (MDP) is a pioneering citizen science-based study of dragonfly migration in North America that was launched by US Forest Service International Programs and is chaired and coordinated by the Xerces Society, a nonprofit organization that protects wildlife through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitat.  Regular monitoring and centralized reporting among participants across the US, Canada and Mexico will help to answer some of the many questions currently surrounding dragonfly migration and provide information needed to create cross-border conservation programs to protect and sustain the phenomenon.

Where do you come in? Well, what better way to monitor dragonflies than from a local hawkwatch!  Migrating dragonflies are often seen along routes used by migrating birds and hawk watchers are ideally situated to observe dragonfly migration. A lot of us are up there all day, every day throughout the migration season, so why not?

Whether you are a casual hawkwatcher on weekends or a full-time counter, you can participate in this important citizen-science project.  How much you’d like to be involved is up to you.  A hawkwatch may designate a special counter just for dragonflies or use current hawkwatchers to collect the data. Either can work! Counts are timed for as many minutes as you can cover, one, five, ten, for each hour or whenever you can. Estimates of migrant numbers are also accepted (e.g., 500 plus, less than 10, etc.) You may find you don’t have time for dragonfly watching at all which is fine, too.

Check out the downloadable data collection protocol and datasheet available at www.hmana.org. If you are associated with a particular hawkwatch, please contact me at brown@hmana.org so we can sign you up.  Please try to respond by August 15, 2013.  We will need to add some data fields to your online HawkCount data entry form.  If you would like to participate on your own, go right ahead. Data sheets should be sent to Xerces Society at the end of the migration season.

For information on the five dragonfly species MDP is tracking and how to identify them in flight go to http://www.migratorydragonflypartnership.org/uploads/_ROOT/File/MDP-field_guide.pdf.

Upcoming raptor-based tours from HMANA, Hawk Mountain and Hawk Watch International

November 5-11, 2013: Golden Days Hawkwatching and Fall Migration Tour  Join HMANA on a tour of select Northeastern hawk watches and Cape May, NJ to witness the spectacle of fall migration. This week-long tour will include the peak period of Golden Eagle and large buteo movement across the Northeast. We will visit locations that capture the rich history of the hawkwatching tradition, enjoy the area’s breathtaking fall colors, and focus on honing our hawk identification skills with our accomplished tour leaders. For more information, please visit: http://www.hmana.org/tours/Golden/

 

April 6-12, 2014: Raptor ID Workshop/Tour at Braddock Bay, NY

The focus of this tour will be sharing raptor ID tips from some of the best hawkwatchers in the country, utilizing both field and classroom components. We’ll also enjoy all the splendor of one of the Great Lakes’ best migrant hotspots at Braddock Bay Hawk Watch and visit raptor and owl banding stations. More info at: http://www.hmana.org/raptor_id_workshop/

 

October 7-12, 2014: Southern Florida: Hawk watching and birding in the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas

Join us for an exciting birding tour through southern Florida to experience waves of fall migrants and Florida specialties. We’ll spend time at the Florida Keys Hawkwatch during peak Peregrine Falcon migration. The site set a new world record (3,836 Peregrines counted this past fall!). More info at http://www.hmana.org/tours/Florida/

 

 

Experience the Veracruz River of Raptors - the world’s largest hawk migration! Join Hawk Mountain and Pronatura biologists in autumn 2013 for a nine-day tour timed for the peak of Broad-winged Hawk migration, September 27 - October 5. Enjoy hundreds of thousands of migrating raptors and waterbirds and view regional specialities such as aplomado falcon, bat falcon, red warbler, and double-striped thickknees. For more information on the tour:

http://www.hawkmountain.org/events/ecotour-veracruz-mexico-2012/page.aspx?id=2802

 

Join HawkWatch International in a wild west adventure on a mountain-top hawkwatch site! Frontline Science: Spend a weekend banding, counting, and observing the migrating raptors side-by-side with our field crew at either our Goshutes, NV or Manzanos, NM migration sites. Space is limited so visit www.hawkwatch.org for details and registration today.

http://www.hawkwatch.org/news-and-events/latest-news/360-frontline-science

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Tale of Two Condors Part II

 Antisano National Park, Ecuador.  February 2013.  Elevation 13,000 feet.  Early morning we join David and Jorge near Quito for the drive into the high Andes where we hope to glimpse an Andean Condor as well as numerous paramo specialties.  The landscape changes gradually as we climb, but within a half hour or so we notice a distinct difference in vegetation and the views are spectacular.  We stop at a small restaurant/hosteria where we traipse down a hillside pasture above a crater lake where Andean Teal, Yellow-billed Pintails, and Silver Grebes dabble and dive in the reflections of clouds and surrounding cliffs.  It’s chilly up here, so we don’t linger at the overlook but hurry back for a welcome steaming cup of chocolate.  The proprietors have scopes set up at the windows, and a log book sits on a nearby table where they record sightings of condors.  So maybe we might see one? we ask.  And no sooner are the words out of our mouths when someone exclaims, “Condor! There, above those cliffs!”  And then there are two, and three, and within seconds no fewer than twelve of the giant birds have risen on the updrafts above the escarpment.  

Andean Condor. From National Geographic:  Photograph by Anne Keiser

We can’t believe our good fortune, which was augmented an hour later up on the paramo when three adult Andean Condors soared over our heads low enough that we could see their fluffy white collars with unaided eyes!  And, if that wasn’t enough, later when we stopped back at the hosteria for lunch, we spied an adult male bird perched on a small outcropping on the cliff face across the lake.  While we watched through the scope, it moved to another spot.  “Un Nino! A kid!”  David had zoomed in so we watched in amazement as Papa Condor regurgitated large pieces of dead animal into the offspring’s craw.

California Condor Photograph by Chad Olson, NPS

A couple of weeks later we were in the southern part of Ecuador, where we met Chad Olson and Sophie Osborn from Wyoming.  We birded together for a few days, during which time we learned they are also raptorphiles.  They had both worked on the California Condor Recovery Project, and had wonderful stories about their experiences.  Sophie was awarded the Best Outdoor Writer prize in 2012 for her book  Condors in Canyon Country. She told of watching young California Condors playing with “toys” and of how each bird in the nursery had its own distinct personality. As the four of us discussed our individual experiences with the two species, and the awe we feel when watching, we all agreed that we like “our” condors best.

A Tale of Two Condors – Part I

About a year ago I wrote in this space about an [unintentionally voyeuristic] encounter with California Condors along their eponymous state’s Big Sur coast.  How majestic those birds are!  Their mastery of the air, soaring on huge wings, takes them on daily journeys many miles long and covering hundreds of hectares of landscape.  One might think them invincible, but alas, an earth element for which evolution did not prepare their kind has been their downfall, and still threatens these 747s of the avian world.  Element 82, lead, is highly toxic, especially when ingested (or delivered at a high rate of speed). Environmental “clean-up crews” in the form of scavengers such as condors and other vultures as well as Bald Eagles have perished, often after suffering lengthy painful debilitating neurological problems caused by eating lead-contaminated carrion.  This “mineral-rich” food is unnecessarily abundant in some areas, especially where shooters have not yet converted to lead-free ammunition.  Shotgun pellets in an un-retrieved duck; a wounded deer, which wandered into a secluded spot to die after eluding a hunter; a coyote shot by a shepherd --- any number of similarly contaminated menu items lure the unsuspecting scavengers to their ultimate demise.

California Condor

Andean Condor

 Are these same hazards responsible for the decline in the Andean Condor populations? 

According to BirdLife International that species is “highly vulnerable to human persecution, which persists in parts of its range owing to alleged attacks [by condors] on livestock (Houston 1994)”.  Yes, lead ammunition plays a role in the decline of these condors as well, although it would seem that the “high speed” delivery of lead is responsible for a higher percentage of condor mortality south of the equator.

It is likely that an increased effort to educate and inform the general public living in condor-populated regions could keep these monarchs of the sky aloft for future generations to watch in wide-eyed wonder.

In my next blog I will tell of my most recent condor encounters – Andean Condors in the Ecuador Andes.  Tune in again.

Houston, D. C. 1994. Cathartidae (New World Vultures). In: del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J. (ed.),Handbook of the birds of the world, pp. 24-41. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain.

BirdLife International (2013) Species factsheet: Vultur gryphus.  http://www.birdlife.org 

Above photos by W.Fogleman

HMANA's Spring Raptorthon

 

       First prize: “Arctic Portrait – White Gyrfalcon”, a ROBERT BATEMAN Print

It’s Spring and raptors are on the move! That must mean it's time for HMANA's Raptorthon! If you haven’t participated in this event before, I suggest you join the fun. From March 1-May 31, you 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. Choose to 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!

Did I mention that you get a free Raptorthon t-shirt for you and your teammates when you register?
People who sponsor you can either give you a flat donation or agree to a certain amount per raptor species. We even have a great letter to download from our website to help find sponsors.

After that, the only thing left to do is go out and enjoy a day of birding or hawk watching! When you’re all done, report to your sponsors, collect your pledges, send to HMANA and we’ll issue a check to your hawkwatch or conservation organization.

PRIZES! New this year!
Each participant who registers and raises at least $25 will be entered for one chance in the draw. Participants who raise at least $100 will receive an additional chance for each $100 raised (e.g. If you raised $100, you will get 2 chances; if you raised $500 you will get 6 chances.

Please visit www.hmana.org/raptorthon to see prizes, download forms and learn more on taking part. While you're there, you can support other teams by clicking on "Sponsor a Participant".

Thanks and Happy raptorthoning!

Spring Hawk Migration Studies coming soon to a mailbox near you!

The spring issue of Hawk Migration Studies will soon be mailed, and to whet your appetite, here’s a bit about what you can look forward to in the new issue.


First off, we’ll have an extensive article from Nick Bolgiano about changes in Red-tailed Hawk wintering patterns. Nick used HawkCount data going back into the ‘70’s to show the changes.

HMANA is planning a couple of new tours within the next year, including a fall hawkwatching tour to several of the east’s biggest fall sites, including Waggoner’s Gap, Hawk Mountain and Cape May. Also on the horizon is a tour to the Dry Tortugas in February 2014.

If you weren’t able to attend HMANA’s conference in Greenwich, Connecticut, this past October, Julie Brown recaps all the action.

What are the odds any of us will get a chance to visit Cuba and see hawk migration there? Not very good, unfortunately. So we have the next best thing with an article about raptor monitoring in Cuba.

Laurie Goodrich updates HMANA’s data scanning project. Many of those old pre-electronic “green sheets” are finally being entered into the HawkCount database.

Daena Ford reports on the recent HMANA survey that many of you participated in.

And, of course, there’s plenty more and lots of great photos, too! Keep an eye on your mailbox. The spring issue will be arriving soon!