Keweenaw Raptor Survey

Any day now, we’re set to break the highwater mark of 16,000 raptors for the season, the largest count of any season undertaken at Brockway thus far (including Jon Peacock’s pioneering 1992 survey).  As I write the morning of May 25, we’ve already seen twice as many Bald Eagle (1080), Osprey (54), and Northern Harrier (167) as we did last year, and handily overtaken the previous KRS counts for nearly all species except for Turkey Vulture, Sharp-shinned Hawk, American Kestrel, Merlin, and Peregrine Falcon.  And we still haven’t seen the peak for juvenile Broad-winged Hawk yet (the peak for adult Broad-winged Hawk was May 11), so the current count for Broad-winged Hawk (10,772) has room for growth.  I’m especially pleased by the by number of Red-tailed Hawk (1163) we’ve seen, although I’m a little surprised that we haven’t yet recorded a dark morph “Western” bird this season.  (Last year we had two of them.)  With a few weeks still to go before the close of the count, I don’t feel I’m being premature in saying that we’ve had one helluva season!

Musing from somewhere below Brockway,
Arthur

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Well, not exactly a call for help, nor a British Holiday.  But after a few strong days, I assumed this year we’d pass on that big annual flight of Broad-winged Hawk and stretch it out instead.  I was pretty convinced at one point that we’d missed that “big day” entirely after being socked in by fog for the first days of the month.  But it seems our fine-feathered (predatorial) friends were simply waiting it out: May 9 brought 1313 BWs, May 10 saw 1163, and May 11 topped them both with a 2544 BWs.  As of today (May 12), our total raptor count now stands at 12043 birds, with a full month still to go before the survey concludes in June.  The juvenile Broad-winged Hawk peak is still ahead of us.  That means are still a lot of birds in the pipeline.  So don’t feel you’ve missed the show by any means!

And warblers are definitely approaching prime, too.  We’re now regularly hearing Black-throated Green Warbler, Ovenbird, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Northern Parula, Palm Warbler, and Blue-headed Vireo from up on the mountain.  Today, I also heard Rose-breasted Grosbeak and American Redstart.  Things are shaping up, and following my “tradition” last year, I’ll mark my first Northern Waterthrush with a beer (no, not on the mountain!) just as I did for my first migrant Turkey Vulture.

I still have some catching up to do.  Among other topics I promised to address were books on cloud identification, and Joseph Youngman’s Raptornet.  Also, we had a terrific group of school kids join us atop Brockway on May 4, and I’m reminded of my overseas counting experience when I think of how important the educational component is to any raptor survey and the community it serves.  I’ll admit I’m feeling the burn at this point in the season, so I will do what I can do to take all this on one bit at a time.  Thanks, as always, for your patience!

Good Hawkwatching to you!
Arthur

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As good a day as any to watch hawks.

Yesterday’s flight seemed to help validate my suggestion in my previous entry about getting out on the mountain when the weather clears this week.  You really have nothing to lose.  Sometimes wind directions are less than stellar.  It’s true that south or southeasterly winds are indeed the “magic” winds for Brockway, and often bring the best (& closest) flights, and I’ve said this a lot.  But especially during peak migration periods, many species of raptors routinely migrate no matter what the winds are.  This runs counter to the usual “wisdom” that says that hawks don’t migrate except on such-and-such winds.  Or won’t fly if the winds are too strong.  Or <insert other pearl o’ wisdom that many hawkwatchers nod sagely to but never question here>.  It’s a mistake to conflate actual migration with the observed migration at Brockway, even if, practically, it may not seem like there is much point in splitting hairs (especially when you’re not seeing any birds, or they are ridiculously far away!).  But especially later in the season (as I learned last year), juvenile Broad-winged Hawk seem to move no what the winds are, and it’s possible to see decent flights even with northerly and easterly winds (something I would have considered less likely earlier in the season) so long as these winds are not strong enough to push the birds beyond the range at which you could detect them.  So, again, while we’re in this peak period, no harm in giving it a go even if things aren’t ideal.  You might see a lot more than you thought you would!

Cordially Yours from atop Brockway,
Arthur (who likes hawks just as much whether they are very close or ridiculously far!)

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Another strong raptor flight on May 1 bodes well for this week, even though the forecast is a bit dismal.  It is likely birds will move in sync with these fronts, so even brief periods of good weather offer good possibility of letting loose a wave of birds until the next round of precipitation moves in.  While days like these may not quite capture the romantic notions of hawkwatching that most of us retain, birds carry somewhat different notions of “good” weather than we do!

In any case, if the weather clears a bit this week, it might be seriously worth your while to drop what you are doing and try the mountain for a few hours.  There are never guarantees, of course, but you may find yourself handsomely rewarded for your effort!

I’ll close for now by mentioning that we also recorded our first American Pipit and Pine Warbler on the mountain on Tuesday.  Passerine migration seems set to pick up in the days ahead.  Stay Tuned!

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