Broad-winged Hawk

There was just a spectacular hawk flight on May 5th at Brockway Mountain. We tallied in 2528 east-bound raptors, as well as 123 Common Loons. 15 Bohemian Waxwings were nice to see and getting a touch on the late side for them to still be around.

Raptor-wise the highlights were 2 SWAINSON’S HAWKS (1 light morph and 1 dark morph), 3 dark-morph “western” Red-tails and the season’s 2nd(!) near full albino Red-tail. Of course the 1600+ Broad-winged Hawks were pretty awesome too.

dark morph Swainson's Hawk

The numbers from the day-
Turkey Vulture- 79
Osprey- 4
Bald Eagle- 27
Northern Harrier- 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk- 614
Broad-winged Hawk- 1643
SWAINSON’S HAWK- 2 (1 light juvie, 1 dark adult)
Red-tailed Hawk- 108 (including 3 dark morphs, and 1 near complete albino bird)
Rough-legged Hawk- 16
Golden Eagle- 1
American Kestrel- 27
Merlin- 1
Peregrine Falcon- 2

partial albino Red-tailed Hawk

a dark morph "Western" Red-tailed Hawk

Common Loon

Here is Arthur’s post to the UP listserv about yesterday’s sighting.

Today from atop Brockway, under partial cloud cover with NW winds
“gusting” to ~8 mph, I observed a Black Vulture working its way north
over Rocky Ridge and then proceed east towards Copper Harbor at
exactly 13:15 EST today.  My hope is that I’ll catch it on the
westbound flight tomorrow!

Other birds seen yesterday included

30 Turkey Vultures, 1 Osprey, 10 Bald Eagles, 6 Northern Harriers, 45 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 3 Northern Goshawks, 16 Red-tailed Hawks, a non-eastbound Golden Eagle; as well as 25 Common Loons, 4,746 Canada Geese, 44 Sandhill Cranes, and 5 Bohemian Waxwings.

Hope to see you on the Mountain!

~Skye Haas

Common Ravens

Well at least we don’t have to change the acronym. This morning was marked by a strong Common Redpoll flight with 148 birds recorded flying by in small flocks. I noted several flocks on my way up the coastline on my way to count as well. Early for Keweenaw County was a singing Song Sparrow in Copper Harbor and my most interesting sighting of the day was a flock of 7 Red-necked and 3 Horned Grebes off Hebard Park. Pretty early for these birds to be on the North Shore of the Keweenaw.

World's worst redpoll photo

It was wonderful getting a chance to count again as I gave Arthur a well deserved respite for the day. I was able to get my 4-wheel drive Jeep Cherokee up the west end of the Mountain (smaller cars beware of the late afternoon slush-fest I came off in!), so soon all will be able to get up and visit Arthur (he accepts bribes of cookies for Golden Eagles btw….).

And this what greeted me when I got up to the top.

So the raptors- it was a fun day, not too crazy, but good diversity. The first Turkey Vultures of the season were recorded, and yet another Red-shouldered Hawk along with 2 Northern Goshawks were a treat.  A couple of  Red-tails punctuated by a juvie Rough-legged Hawk wraps up the buteo report and 18 east-bound Bald Eagles and 2 Golden Eagles were also record, with of course the local ravens chasing one of the Goldens out of the valley.

Can’t wait to get back….

~Skye

We couldn't go too long without a photo of a raptor eh?

It was so great to get back up to the top of Brockway. Arthur Green, Greg Cleary & I headed up the Mountain to assemble the counter’s shack. Brockway Mt. Drive is still snowed in from the winter leaving us but one option for the day- saddle up the sleds!

Of course, many thanks must go to Ken Stegers (the proprietor of the Pines Resort) for helping house Arthur and getting snowmobiles for KRS to use. Be sure and stop in his place for some hot food when you come up for some hawk-watching later this spring!

Not to be melodramatic, but it was pretty harsh up there when we got to the West Bluff overlook. A strong northerly wind off the lake with a heavy snow was challenging to say the least, we could barely even see the bottom of the valley. Also “amusing” was the discovery that the tarp covering the shack pieces had been shredded over the winter, but thankfully the wood was not too frozen to the ground.

Thankfully nothing had warped too bad, and after a few hours of digging, hauling and assembling the shack began to take form. A gang of passing snowmobilers were drafted to help get the heavy roof up and no one got frost-bite!

Well, of course the big question, were there any birds??

No raptors were seen, but a small flock of flyover Redpolls passed by and just before we left for the day a Barred Owl hooted from the valley. South winds are forecasted for the rest of the week so hopefully this count will start with some migrants! Tune back in to get Arthur’s report from opening day (Tuesday!).

Welcome to da Yoop Arthur!

It is an exciting time here at the Keweenaw Raptor Survey. The U.P. may be still locked in snow and ice, but the start of the spring count is fast approaching and we have been a bustling to make sure everything is ready for our sophomore year of the project.

First the big announcement- We are delighted to welcome Arthur Green to KRS as our spring counter for this year. Arthur comes way of New York State and the Chestnut Ridge Hawk Count conducted by the Bedford Audubon Society.

Arthur Green- Spring 2011 KRS Hawk Counter

There have been other personnel changes this year as well. Joe Youngman has stepped down from the management committee with Dana Richter graciously filling the vacancy. We are indebted to Joe for all his hard work over the past two years, and are very thankful that Joe will continue on as a volunteer with the project. Dana had already been extremely helpful during the creation of KRS and continues to invaluable with his assistance to the committee. Head on over to the Who We Are page for more information about Arthur, Dana and the rest of the KRS team.

I have been able to do some updating of our website with results from the spring 2010 season on the Brockway Raptors page, as well as a 2010 photo gallery on our Media page.

Finally, this project is run solely through grants and donations from people like you. If you have not contributed before, or would like to donate again to the project please click here or go to the Donate tab on your right. Thank you for all and anything you are able to contribute to KRS to ensure we are able to conduct our planned 2012 Spring Season!

Check back here soon for more updates- only 39 days to the start of the count!!!

The big news is the trapping and tagging of a new bird. This bird is a juvenile who was trapped on a “goat prairie” bluff in Minnesota very near Wabasha, MN. The bird was trapped by Jeff Worrel  using a remotely activated bow net. the Bird was released on 1-18-11 from the trap area in field off MN Hwy 32. Moved to the south west corner of the bluff overlooking filed where he remained until at least 11am the morning of the 19th. He moved about 4.8 mi. south to a wooded area where he spent the evening of the 19th.  By 10:00 the next morning  he was on the move and continued travelling south/southeast about 19.4mi. to the western part of Winona County. He spent the evenings of the 20th and 21st on a wooded hillside overlooking a small ravine between Elba and Altura, MN. He started moving north about 10am on the 21st. He started moving north a bit on the 22nd and was near Co. Rd 26 near Elba on the afternoon of the 22nd.

Golden Eagle being attacked by a Raven

The position is now closed for applicants for the spring 2011 counter. Thank you all to those who applied. We will be announcing the counter soon. Stand by for more frequent posts as we gear up for the spring season. Only 50 more days until the start of the count!

A skilled raptor counter is needed for the 2011 spring season – March 15^th through June 15^th at Brockway Mountain, near Copper Harbor in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.  Pay will be not less than $3,500 and up to $4,000 for an experienced counter.  The counter is responsible for maintaining the count six days a week, with one day off per week. The primary focus is on raptors, but all migrants are to be recorded (significant goose, loon and passerine migrations are annually observed here). Preferred applicants will be able to identify all regularly occurring eastern North American bird species. Additional duties include entering data into an excel spreadsheet, posting totals to HawkCount.org, and posting updates to the KRS sightings blog. At the end of the count season, the counter will summarize the data in a seasonal report; a template report from 2010 will be available for an example. Housing is provided in the nearby Village of Copper Harbor. The housing comes with a full kitchen, bathroom, living room and bedroom as well as phone line and long-distance calling card (cell phones work at the count site, but not at the house).
This is a tough count.  Conditions will be cold and windy for the first 6-8 weeks.  The counter will reach the count site by snowmobile for the first month or so.  The organizers will provide the snowmobile (and fuel) but the counter will drive it to work each day. When the road to the Count Site is snow free, the counter will need their own automobile to reach the site. The nearest town for groceries is 35-45 minutes away in the Calumet/Houghton/Hancock area. The count site is beautiful but isolated; very few visitors can be expected early in the season.  The position will be open until 15 January, 2011, or a suitable applicant is hired.
If interested please contact:  Greg Cleary (906) 228-8781 or email at g.cleary@sbcglobal.net
For more information please visit– http://keweenawraptorsurvey.org/

As summer is drawing to a close here we are starting to see hawks migrating through the state on their way south. Both of the golden eagles we are tracking are still alive and sending data from Canada although neither has begun any movement south.

Whitey – Eagle 42 is still using a pretty large area in northern Quebec between Hudson Bay and Hudson Strait. He has been here all summer. The last 2 weeks of August he spent his time in an area of about 30 sq. miles. On Sep 1 – 4 he moved about 30 miles south where he was when we received our last reading.

Fairchild – Eagle 44, after spending most of her summer using a very small area along a river near the Labrador Sea has moved about 30 miles east and is now using a few islands off the coast of Labrador. For the past few weeks she has been moving among those islands.

While the golden eagles are starting to fly in larger numbers over Hawk Ridge in Duluth, our 2 birds seem quite content in Canada. Female 44 (Fairchild) is not showing any signs of moving away from her summer area in Labrador. Male 42 (Whitey) seems to be slowly moving to the southwest away from his main summer use area but has only covered a total of 66 miles in 4 days, so if this is the start of his migration he does not seem in any hurry

Not much new to report at this point. Eagle 42 (Whitey) is moving south, although not at a very fast clip. He has covered only 147 miles since he began moving. The attached map shows his movements this fall (white diamonds), his main summer range (white bordered box), and his spring migration through the area (pink lines and triangles).

Eagle 44 (Fairchild) remains on her summer area, moving around but not away.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE PROJECT VIST:

http://mn.audubon.org/birds-science-education/golden-eagle-project