Hawks's blog

The past three days have seen both south winds and decreasing counts. The total raptors went from 324 on Sunday, to 226 on Monday, to 208 on Tuesday. Many of the species stayed relatively constant during this time. However, the notable changes were in Broad-winged Hawks, which declined, and Sharp-shinned Hawks, which increased, over the past three days. The broadwings haven't been sticking around for too long before moving out of sight.

Thursday had a good flight with 471 total raptors counted. The bulk of the count consisted of sharpies (173) and broadwings (190). However, the highlights of the day were the season high 51 Red-tailed Hawks, the 17 Bald Eagles and 7 Peregrine Falcons. 

The broadwing kettles have been fewer over the past few days. Tuesday was the last day with a sizeable kettle of 255 broadwings. The sharpies, on the other hand, have remained a steady mover. Monday was slow overall with 95 raptors, of which 74 were Sharp-shinned Hawks. Tuesday had the broadwing kettle in addition to 263 sharpies, which helped make it the biggest day of the week so far--577 total raptors. Sharpies made the bulk of the migration once again on Wednesday. They accounted for 327 of the 408 total raptors counted.

It has been a busy weekend! Mostly due to all of the Sharp-shinned Hawks and Broad-winged Hawks. While just one week ago it seemed that the migration was slow this year, the past four days of the count has completely reversed that idea.

I have been waiting for that big day to come along with this switch to south winds we saw this week. I was beginning to think it might not come, but it certainly did. Today I counted 1261 Sharp-shinned Hawks, and they came just before the wind is expected to switch back to the north for Friday.