Congratulations to Hawk Ridge MN for their 16,135 count on September 10. They counted 15,204 Broad-winged Hawks and 130 Bald Eagles, as well as 608 Sharp-shinned Hawks and 87 American Kestrels to reach their total. Included also were 7 Swainson's Hawks.
In the east, many sites posted numbers in the several hundreds, including Quaker Ridge CT, 959; Waggoner's Gap PA, 633; Militia Hill PA, 522; Franklin Mtn. NY, 475 and Holiday Beach ON, 418, to list just a few.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Saturday, September 8, 2012
HMANA on Twitter! One more way to track raptors this fall
There has been a lot of talk amongst
hawkwatchers over the years about finding better ways to stay in touch while
hawkwatching and how to share up to the minute reports on what’s being seen
across the network of sites. Well HMANA is happy to report that we are officially
taking the Twitter plunge and we have a hawkwatcher to thank for helping us
make it happen!
A message from hawk counter, Luke Tiller:
This one account would mean there was a central location for people to read live reports of what other watches were seeing. Any legitimate counter (paid or volunteer) who wanted to participate would be given the username and password to the account so that they could post to it.
If you are interested in being able to post your sightings send an email to hmanahawkwatchne@gmail.com to get set up. You will be sent a password for the Twitter account username hmanahawkwatch and you’ll also get a posting protocol guide. If you only want to read the feed, just go ‘follow’ hamanahawkwatch on Twitter.
A message from hawk counter, Luke Tiller:
Sitting at the Quaker Ridge
hawkwatch a few season’s ago, I had an idea of setting up a ‘live’ hawkwatch
update service. The thought reoccurred to me after getting a call from a New
Jersey watch south of us today and spurred me to discus implementing this idea
through HMANA. I’m sure I’m not the only hawkwatcher to wonder how we could
better be in touch with other counters across the country and to have the
facility to access ‘live’ reporting of what is happening at other sites,
whether it is big flights or interesting birds. Beyond collecting tens of phone
numbers (and then spending important watching times to call those) I thought
that a little modern technology might be able to help us accomplish that.
Twitter seems like the obvious tool
for this sort of thing and discussing it with a few friends, my thought was
that we could create a dedicated hawkwatch
Twitter account that could be used by watchers to put out details of what
they were seeing during the day. Lots of us now have smartphones or web access
at our sites which would allow us to access this kind of information and the
kind of reports one would want to send would fit perfectly into a short tweet
format. E.g: CT, Quaker Ridge, 9/5, 12:15pm 1 Swainson’s Hawk (juvie dark
morph) heading SWThis one account would mean there was a central location for people to read live reports of what other watches were seeing. Any legitimate counter (paid or volunteer) who wanted to participate would be given the username and password to the account so that they could post to it.
If you are interested in being able to post your sightings send an email to hmanahawkwatchne@gmail.com to get set up. You will be sent a password for the Twitter account username hmanahawkwatch and you’ll also get a posting protocol guide. If you only want to read the feed, just go ‘follow’ hamanahawkwatch on Twitter.
We are in the process of
testing this but hope to make the feed available on the HMANA Facebook page and
website in the near future (for those Twitterless people). With big Broadie pushes
just on the horizon it seems like the perfect time to kick this off!
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
August Wrap-up - Bring on September
September is now upon us, and every hawkwatcher hopes for top-notch results at his or her favorite spot. But just for today we’re going to take a last look at the August hawkwatching results to see how those ended up.
Despite poor weather throughout much of the east, several sites posted some good numbers in what was largely a lackluster month for most sites this year.
Rockfish Gap VA doubled its count hours this year and then posted high August numbers for several species. Perhaps best of all were 36 Bald Eagles, compared to the previous August record of 14. Other species also benefited from the increased time at the site, especially Osprey, American Kestrel and Sharp-shinned Hawk.
Corpus Christi TX came oh-so-close to breaking its August record for Mississippi Kites. They ended up with 20,064, just 800 off the 2007 August record of 20,833.
A hearty “welcome back” is due to Smith Point TX, which had been closed for a few years. They counted for several days in late August and ended up with nearly 6000 Mississippi Kites and 183 Broadwings.
Hawk Ridge MN counted 737 Broadwings in August, which is at least their highest total in the past 12 years.
Hawk Mountain Pa tallied 12 Merlin in August, the highest total since at least 1995. With 75 years of records to look through, I didn’t go back the whole way.
Waggoner’s Gap PA also set two August records, one for Broad-winged Hawks at 363, just inching past 1999’s August record of 359, and another for its 3 Merlin (previous high of 2 in August)
Hawk Cliff ON saw a lot more Broadwings and American kestrel than they usually do in August. They had a record 162 kestrels, boosted by a thoroughly impressive result of 112 on August 28. The next day, a total of 137 Broadwings helped to boost the month’s total of that species to 174, and that looks alike another high tally for August.
And now it’s on to September, and for all of us who spent time on an eastern ridge, let’s hope for some better weather to bring us some more hawks!
Despite poor weather throughout much of the east, several sites posted some good numbers in what was largely a lackluster month for most sites this year.
Rockfish Gap VA doubled its count hours this year and then posted high August numbers for several species. Perhaps best of all were 36 Bald Eagles, compared to the previous August record of 14. Other species also benefited from the increased time at the site, especially Osprey, American Kestrel and Sharp-shinned Hawk.
Corpus Christi TX came oh-so-close to breaking its August record for Mississippi Kites. They ended up with 20,064, just 800 off the 2007 August record of 20,833.
A hearty “welcome back” is due to Smith Point TX, which had been closed for a few years. They counted for several days in late August and ended up with nearly 6000 Mississippi Kites and 183 Broadwings.
Hawk Ridge MN counted 737 Broadwings in August, which is at least their highest total in the past 12 years.
Hawk Mountain Pa tallied 12 Merlin in August, the highest total since at least 1995. With 75 years of records to look through, I didn’t go back the whole way.
Waggoner’s Gap PA also set two August records, one for Broad-winged Hawks at 363, just inching past 1999’s August record of 359, and another for its 3 Merlin (previous high of 2 in August)
Hawk Cliff ON saw a lot more Broadwings and American kestrel than they usually do in August. They had a record 162 kestrels, boosted by a thoroughly impressive result of 112 on August 28. The next day, a total of 137 Broadwings helped to boost the month’s total of that species to 174, and that looks alike another high tally for August.
And now it’s on to September, and for all of us who spent time on an eastern ridge, let’s hope for some better weather to bring us some more hawks!
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Fall hawk migration - late August
About the middle of August as I was looking at the early season hawkwatch results, many of the sites were posting decent numbers for early August. I remember thinking that if the results continued at the same rate, most of the eastern hawkwatches were just about one good day away from posting nice August results. Unfortunately, that was not to be. Now it’s the end of the month, and while Hawk Ridge MN has some nice numbers, the eastern hawkwatches have pretty ugly August results.
First, let’s look at the good news. As of August 28, Hawk Ridge had posted its third best August ever for Broad-winged Hawks with the highest total of the little buteo since 1998, which had 719. They may have a shot at that second best August Broadwing total over these last few days of the month but likely aren’t going to reach 1977’s 1031. Hawk Ridge also counted the season’s first Northern Goshawk on August 20 and currently have a total of 4. That result isn’t an August record, but it’s close. The rest of the species have not fared nearly so well.
When I say the eastern hawkwatches aren’t having a good August, what I mean is that many are posting results that are half of their best results. American Kestrel seem particularly low pretty much everywhere, but everything from eagles to ospreys to Sharp-shinned Hawks were also counted in very low numbers.
Weather is to blame, of course. In the east this August has been untypically rainy and foggy after a blistering hot and dry July. Nice cold fronts have been in short supply. August hawkwatching is always a bit chancy, so let’s look at the bright side and hope that a poor August means a super September is only a few days away.
First, let’s look at the good news. As of August 28, Hawk Ridge had posted its third best August ever for Broad-winged Hawks with the highest total of the little buteo since 1998, which had 719. They may have a shot at that second best August Broadwing total over these last few days of the month but likely aren’t going to reach 1977’s 1031. Hawk Ridge also counted the season’s first Northern Goshawk on August 20 and currently have a total of 4. That result isn’t an August record, but it’s close. The rest of the species have not fared nearly so well.
When I say the eastern hawkwatches aren’t having a good August, what I mean is that many are posting results that are half of their best results. American Kestrel seem particularly low pretty much everywhere, but everything from eagles to ospreys to Sharp-shinned Hawks were also counted in very low numbers.
Weather is to blame, of course. In the east this August has been untypically rainy and foggy after a blistering hot and dry July. Nice cold fronts have been in short supply. August hawkwatching is always a bit chancy, so let’s look at the bright side and hope that a poor August means a super September is only a few days away.
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Conference 2012 - Quaker Ridge Lowdown
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| Quaker Ridge Hawkwatch - Jeff Cordulack |
I was excited to learn that the HMANA
Conference will be coming to my home town hawkwatch this season at
Quaker Ridge in Greenwich CT. The facilities down at Audubon
Greenwich are fantastic, and the watch itself is pretty nice as well. Best
of all it's very accessible. As much as I know some of you love hiking
two miles up hill to get to a watch, this one requires little more than
rolling out of your car.
It'll
also be exciting to introduce people to some of the other local birding
hotspots including a field trip to the excellent Lighthouse Point
Hawkwatch in East Haven and Chestnut Ridge, which is just a stone's throw across the border in New York state.
If people are thinking of making a long weekend of it, I'm more than
happy to share thoughts and advice on where to bird, eat and visit in
the local area, so do feel free to drop
me a line at streatham2003@aol.com You can also get information on my blog about
hawkwatching basics in Connecticut (www.underclearskies.com)
and in the links section also find a map to some of the birding
hotspots in the local area, which might help you plan your visit. It's
also worth checking out the Connecticut Ornithological Association's
website, which has lots about state birding and a helpful seasonal guide http://ctbirding.org/
 |
| Quaker Merlin - Luke Tiller |
If you are counting down the days to the festival, you might also want to add this date to your diary--September 30. On that date Julie Brown (Monitoring Site Coordinator at HMANA) will be appearing on BirdCallsRadio. One of North America's
only dedicated birding radio shows is based right across town from here
in Greenwich CT but covers the world of birds and birding across North
America (and the globe). Previous guests have included luminaries from
the world of birding as well as yours truly talking about hawkwatching http://birdcallsradio.com/
 | |
| Quaker Sandhill Cranes - Ken Mirman |
I'm looking forward to seeing you there!
Luke Tiller, Official Hawkwatcher, Audubon Greenwich http://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=149
Another Classification of Birdwatcher
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| Photo Courtesy of Bert Willaert |
In the introductory pages to his Field Guide to the Birds of North America, Ken Kaufman draws a distinction between birdwatchers and birders, offering some of the defining characteristics that make birders different than "garden variety" birdwatchers. I've never been particularly fond of this distinction, largely because I feel it is prone to misinterpretation. Promoting the birder as a kind of "elite" birdwatcher unnecessarily fractures a community with a common interest (i.e., birds and their conservation), and I do not feel this was Kaufman's intention at all. But having spent much time afield with birders of all stripes at raptor migration sites both in North America and abroad, I'm inclined to suggest that there might exist another distinction that separates birders and migration counters. Admittedly, the distinction is rarely clean: while there are birders who do not consider themselves migration counters and migration counters who rarely watch birds at all when not at their favorite migration site, most individuals blur the line and retain a more balanced interest. But when working with groups of observers at migration sites, I feel the difference in focus between birders and migration counters often comes to the fore, and the distinction may be worth keeping in mind.
Birders who are not migration counters are the easiest to identify. They are the ones who have a tendency to "filter out" common countable species when plumbing the skies for "special" birds. For them, the common species are not so important. While this is understandable given their peculiar focus, this can be frustrating for true migration counters whose defining responsibility is to offer a balanced coverage effort for all countable species, not just ones that should happen to strike the fancy of the legion of birders lining the platform. More times than I can count, I've watched birders "helping" with the count effort turn their back on large areas of sky for extended periods of time to focus their scopes on a single distant harrier or falcon as one "not-so-special" raptor after another passed by in areas they left without coverage. This can be frustrating for a true migration counter, who often finds his or her count effort directed by where the 10-15 scopes on the platform are not directed. At its worst, a migration counter can feel screwed out of some satisfactory views of "good" birds as the birders' attention flit from one small spot in the sky to another without a second thought about what might be transpiring elsewhere. So despite plentiful talent on the platform, the migration counter can find his or her count effort surprisingly lonely.
I choose this example not to berate birders so much as to help outline what I believe are fundamental "cultural" differences between birders and migration counters, because it is often assumed that everyone volunteering at a hawkwatch has the same objectives in mind. And it is similarly assumed that good birders are, by implication, good migration counters, and I feel this is not always the case. If you are a birder helping with a count effort, make a point to give the entire sky balanced coverage, or at least let the counter know before you ignore a large section of sky. If you are a watchsite coordinator, identifying counters and volunteers who are partial to the objective of balanced count coverage will pay off with higher quality data in the long haul.
Good Hawkwatching,
Arthur
Monday, August 20, 2012
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!
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!
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