The Bradbury Mountain Raptor Research Project’s Spring Hawkwatch is off to a great start! Here’s the totals for the first week of the project, Tuesday March 20th through Monday, March 26th.

Week 1
Turkey Vulture 27
Osprey 0
Bald Eagle 21
Northern Harrier 0
Sharp-shinned Hawk 4
Cooper's Hawk 8
Northern Goshawk 2
Red-shouldered Hawk 17
Broad-winged Hawk 0
Red-tailed Hawk 85
Rough-legged Hawk 2
Golden Eagle 0
American Kestrel 1
Merlin 4
Peregrine Falcon 1
Unknown 4

Total: 176

We are quite pleased with these results so far. I thought 100 birds in the first week was optimistic, and we shattered that goal! I am very happy with the 17 Red-shouldered Hawks, 2 Rough-legged Hawks, and 2 Northern Goshawks tallied to date. The 21 Bald Eagles and 85 Red-tailed Hawks so far is impressive. And, we really are just getting started. Hey, maybe this project really is a good idea!

Today, began the second week of the count. Jeannette and I spelled Lionel for the day (the birding adventures for us during the next two months are going to be quite predictable!). I took the early shift, and was greeted by thick fog. However, it was steadily lifting, and by about 10:00, visibility was quite good. Variable light winds – but always with a northerly component – put a damper on the day’s expectations however.

During the first hour, patchy fog reduced visibility at times, but a noisy flock of about 30 Dark-eyed Juncos kept me company. I also remained alert, tallying passing passerine migrants (130 Common Grackles, 68 American Robins, 50 Red-winged Blackbirds, 20 European Starlings, 7 American Goldfinch, and 2 Brown-headed Cowbirds). Later in the morning, I counted a few migrants waterfowl as well: 10 American Black Ducks, 5 Common Mergansers, and 4 Mallards.

My first “hawks” of the day were 4 Turkey Vultures that rose out of the trees to the south, slowly circled higher and higher, before breaking off and gliding northward. At least I wasn’t going to be skunked! Except, technically, I hadn’t yet seen a hawk – Turkey Vultures are stork relatives, not raptors. They just happen to look like, act like, and migrate like raptors, so we count them anyway (helps pad the numbers at least!!!).

Jeannette arrived at 12:30, and at 1:20, an American Kestrel flew by – our first true hawk of the day. OK, now we were officially not-skunked! I left Jeannette alone with her thoughts soon thereafter. And she was literally alone with her thoughts – no hawks in sight! (I went home to begin spring projects like painting a new bathouse and preparing our new weather station for installation).

By about 4:00, however, the skies finally broke a bit and some rays of sun peaked through. Sometimes, a little sunshine is all hawks need to make some progress. The sun had been teasing Jeannette all afternoon, but when it finally did show itself, some hawks soon followed. Between 4:20 and 4:45, she tallied 8 Turkey Vultures, 1 Northern Goshawk (I’m jealous!), 1 Red-shouldered Hawk, and 1 Red-tailed Hawk. A few very “good” birds to salvage a long, slow, day!