Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch: Week 8

We got 2 good days of hawkwatching in at the beginning of this past week. The remainder of the week were days when you have to be up on the mountain looking at almost nothing. Our good flights were on west and southwest winds, but despite other seemingly favorable conditions, birds were just not to be seen from the summit. The likely culprits were rain shields that were setting up around us with the passage of weather fronts. Sharp-shinned Hawks numbers were increasing this week along with a handful of immature Broad-winged Hawks. An immature American Goshawk made an appearance on 5/6, coming in nice and close to the summit for a great look. Sandhill Cranes were observed on 2 days. Many first-of-years were recorded and large flocks of Blue Jays were migrating on 5/4. Just 5 days to go! Can we tease out a kite?

Week 8 Totals (current week - total to date – season average) 

BLACK VULTURE  0-0-1

TURKEY VULTURE  0-439-414      

OSPREY 21-317-400

SWALLOW-TAILED KITE 0-0-0   

MISSISSIPPI KITE   0-0-0   

BALD EAGLE 11-73-81

NORTHERN HARRIER 11-136–108

SHARP-SHINNED HAWK 90-382–661

COOPER’S HAWK 9-52–68

AMERICAN GOSHAWK 1-4-6      

RED-SHOULDERED HAWK 1-70–88

BROAD-WINGED HAWK 148-1328-1888

SWAINSON’S HAWK 0-0-0

RED-TAILED HAWK 7-76–202

ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK 0-0-1

GOLDEN EAGLE 0-1-0       

AMERICAN KESTREL 31-286-364

MERLIN 9-55–71

PEREGRINE FALCON 0-6-6

UNIDENTIFIED RAPTOR 3-24-47 

TOTAL 342-3249-4407