Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch: Week 7

A strong beginning and strong end to the week bookended a stretch of frustratingly windy and gusty days. On days when conditions were not necessarily ideal for migration, birds just had to move and we had a couple of fun days of 100+ and 200+ hawks. The very windy days kept birds on the down low, however. Merlins made a good showing this week, with quite a few zipping by the summit pretty close. Kettles of Broad-winged Hawks helped pad our season total for that species. Most non-raptors did not seem to brave the winds either, but we saw our first Chimney Swifts and Magnolia Warblers. One Sandhill Crane was spotted on 5/1.

Week 7 Totals (current week - total to date - 2021 total)

BLACK VULTURE 0-1-2

TURKEY VULTURE 0-470-603

OSPREY 39-244-390

SWALLOW-TAILED KITE 0-0-0

MISSISSIPPI KITE 0-0-0

BALD EAGLE 5-85-127

NORTHERN HARRIER 3-76-91

SHARP-SHINNED HAWK 89-523-736

COOPER’S HAWK 10-49-100

NORTHERN GOSHAWK 0-3-4

RED-SHOULDERED HAWK 3–123-129

BROAD-WINGED HAWK 507-1461-1962

SWAINSON’S HAWK 0-0-0

RED-TAILED HAWK 3-133-180

ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK 0-0-0

GOLDEN EAGLE 0-0-0

AMERICAN KESTREL27-263-334

MERLIN 29-60–71

PEREGRINE FALCON 1-4-13

UNIDENTIFIED RAPTOR 5-30-75

TOTAL 721-3525-4817