Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch: Week 5

We had quite a bit of southeast winds this past week. This allowed for a decent movement of birds – several days in the 50-100 numbers, but not what we expect for the peak of the season. However, after a complete rainout on 4/17, we had the banner day on 4/18! Winds finally out of the SW brought the birds. Suddenly we went from 6 Broad-winged Hawks at the end of last week to 956 by the end of the day yesterday. Much of this was concentrated in a 2-hour period in the middle of the day with multiple kettles. 2 Northern Goshawks were also seen this week, the first of the season.

This week’s totals (this week – season to date – 2022 total):

BLACK VULTURE 0-0-1

TURKEY VULTURE 0-500-470

OSPREY 108-169-286

BALD EAGLE 4-45-97

NORTHERN HARRIER 19-69-84

SHARP-SHINNED HAWK 59-138-670

COOPER’S HAWK 3-18-56

NORTHERN GOSHAWK 2-2-3

RED-SHOULDERED HAWK 1-46-123

BROAD-WINGED HAWK 950-956-1651

RED-TAILED HAWK 2-62-140