Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch: Week 9

The 2020 Bradbury Mountain Hawkwatch ended yesterday, 5/15, with a bit of a fizzle. We had hopes for a good day on 5/11 with southwest and west winds, but it just didn’t pan out - it is the end of the season afterall. A wind advisory kept us away for several hours on 5/12, and we continued to battle the strong gusty winds for most of the week.

But, we can’t complain about ending with the third highest season count. This was an interesting season, to say the least, with a global pandemic, crazy weather at times, and strange patterns of bird migration. If it weren't for that record-breaking day on 5/3 with over 1800 birds, this season would have gone down as one of our lowest. In the end, we surpassed our 12-year average for Turkey Vulture, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Bald Eagle, Broad-winged Hawk, Merlin, and Peregrine Falcon.

Luke did a fantastic job of sticking it out on some very unfavorable days – we thank him for his hard work. And, a thank you once again to Bradbury Mountain State Park for allowing us to continue this project. The spiffy new sign board this year was much appreciated. Thank you to the volunteers who helped us out spotting birds. We will be back on March 15, 2021!

Week 9 Totals (current week - total to date - 2019 total)

BLACK VULTURE 0-1-0

TURKEY VULTURE 0-557-573

OSPREY 26-401-433

SWALLOW-TAILED KITE 0-0-0

MISSISSIPPI KITE 0-0-0

BALD EAGLE 1-89-78

NORTHERN HARRIER 2-58-152

SHARP-SHINNED HAWK 24-776-621

COOPER’S HAWK 0-56-70

NORTHERN GOSHAWK 0-6-3

RED-SHOULDERED HAWK 0-65-98

BROAD-WINGED HAWK 64-2531-3041

SWAINSON’S HAWK 0-0-0

RED-TAILED HAWK 3-136-192

ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK 0-0-2

GOLDEN EAGLE 0-0-0

AMERICAN KESTREL 8-249-494

MERLIN 5-79-88

PEREGRINE FALCON 1-8-3

UNIDENTIFIED RAPTOR 2-45-42

TOTAL 136-5057-5890