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.